Their Good Name
by Frederick Aloysius
Summary: Kim and Ron find themselves on the wrong side of the law after a criminal conspiracy frames them. Now, they must find out who is behind it in order to clear their good name. Please Read and Review.
1. Foreword

Foreword

Author's Notes 07/05/04:

Hm, well as you can see, this chapter came out a little later than I had originally planned, by say oh three months. Sorry about the delay, but I hit a huge case of writer's block, then I didn't like the work I was producing, then I started working on _Fox and Sloth_ and _Lotus Blade_. To be honest, I really wasn't able to make any good head way until this weekend. But, without further ado, here is Chapter 6.

One note: I am dedicating this chapter to kp2k4. Over the past three months, he has hounded me to get this up and I don't think that without his encouragement (or is it pestering? :-) ) this story would have continued until much later, if ever at all. So, to kp2k4, thanks.

I'm not going to do any personal reviews this time, but thank you to all who gave a shout out. It was appreciated. And I will no longer give out expected dates for the next update as it is too unpredictable. Tomorrow, I will start Chapter 6 of _Lotus Blade_ so look for that one next.

Until next time, enjoy Chapter 6!

Author's Notes 03/23/04:

Warning: Spoilers ahead! Please read the chapter first!

Wow, this chapter kicked my butt. I knew exactly where I wanted it to end, but getting there proved to be harder than I though. Now that I've gotten a few chapters done, I realize that even though I have chapters planned out, as I write them I come up with more detail and add more scenes to the finished product. For example, the scene with Gannon on the roof was never going to be in the story until I was at my computer and out it came.

At the end of the last chapter, I didn't know if this installment would be big enough to warrant a separate chapter. Turns out, it's the largest chapter yet! So, there are now 30 chapters to the project. I have renamed Chapter 4 _Decisions, Decision_ and Chapter 5 is _Every Dog has Its Day_.

I hope the motorcycles scene wasn't over the top; I'm beginning to wonder if my portrayal of the new Ron is too OOC. If it is, please let me know. Oh, and one other thing: Don't ride a motorcycle without a helmet. I know Ron does but, please, as a motorcyclist myself, its very dangerous. Now that my PSA is done :-), on to the reviewers:

Unknown6: Ah, I love your reviews. Its great to hear the praise, but having someone point out where I can make the story better is always welcome. I have gone back to Chapter 4 and fixed the mixed metaphor problem and in this chapter I have taken extra steps to make the dialogue clearer. I hope it works; if not, let me know. As for reviewing your works, I'm honored you asked. I will make yours the first ones (see below).

LogtarPantsonfire: The whole brunette thing comes down to the fact that I need another way of describing Shego other than villainess. I am glad that you liked Ron; one of my constant worries is that he doesn't get too OOC. And I always thought that when cornered, Shego would take charge to get them out of there.

Ellen, Mr. Elliot, Ace Lannigan: Thanks for the encouragement.

Jayv: I'd never let Kim get shot in this story. Or would I? :-)

Yamal: First, my friend, let me say how sorry I am about the incident in Madrid. My thoughts and prayers were and are with you. I don't know if you know, but this is BillW from over in TvTome and from the Yahoo Groups. Sorry I've been MIA lately, been working on this and another side project that I think can be unveiled soon. Anyway, I look forward to what you think of the next chapter.

Many thanks to you all! I have decided to step away from this story for a little bit so that I can go and review all the stories that I enjoy. It seems only fair that if I want to get reviews, I give them as well. Next update will be April 4th, but maybe sooner. In any case, I hope you have enjoyed this chapter.

Author's Notes 03/16/04:

I'm really sorry for the delay in this chapter. As I was writing it, the single chapter was becoming a little bit too long so I decided to cut it off at an appropriate place and create two chapters. The second part isn't finished yet, and I'm not sure how I'm going to incorporate it into the next chapter. I might just have to add a chapter 4a and be done with it but we'll see.

After reading this chapter, hopefully you've gotten a sense of the pace that I'm telling this story. I know that it's rather slow, but I promised myself when I started that I wouldn't rush the plot along and miss any details or little side scenes that give depth to the story. For example, in Chapter 3, I could have gotten Kim and Ron into the lab in about a paragraph or two, but where's the fun in that?

As always, my thanks go to my reviewers:

Unknown6: smiling No, I have no problem with 'FA'. Frederick Aloysius can be a mouthful. After your last review, I went back and took a careful look at Shego's eyes and you are correct, they are green. I had always assumed they were black, which is why I used onyx as the adjective. If you go back to Chapter 3, you'll notice that I changed it from onyx to jade. Many thanks for pointing that out.

Jayv: Stay tuned, the holographics are just about to become important.

LogtarPantsonfire: Sorry, I can't confirm or deny foreshadowing in Chapter 3; that would be too easy! But, I am glad that you liked the fight scene.

Parareru: I believe Ron said it best in 'A Can of Worms' "Good things come to those who wait." :-) I decided to start with a K/R from the beginning becase A) their getting together has been covered in a million fanfics already, B) I think that it might happen in the series so I don't want to contradict what happens, and C) I had way, way too many ideas on how it would happen to pick just one.

KPKrazy400: Thank you.

Like I said, I'm not sure how I'm going to work the next two chapters. Thus, I can't promise the next update until March 27. It might be sooner, but I doubt it. But hopefully, I'll post both then to make up for the delay. Now go enjoy Chapter 4!

Author's Notes, 03/07/04:

First, it occurs to me that the title of my work is misspelled. Sorry about that, I've correct it. Second, as always, I'd like to thank everyone for reviewing my work.

KPKrazy400 and Ellen: Thank you for your kind words.

Jayv: I promise that Mr. Dr. Possible will be back later on in the story

Unknown6: I can only hope to keep your interest up as you stories have kept mine. As for the claim that this will be a novel, I guess that I meant to convey that my story won't be a short story. I hope to get it to novel length, but as this is my first attempt at something this long, I'll just have to see how it goes.

LogtarPantsonfire: I'm not sure what it is about him, but I really hate Josh too. And he will also play a part later in the story.

Blackheart Syaoran: Don't worry, there will be quite a bit of Kim and Ron dodging the law, but we're not quite there yet.

I've posted chapter three. There's no fluff in this one as I had some in the last chapter. This installment is for those of you who like action and I hope that the fight sequences are not only realistic but detailed enough as well. The action continues with the next chapter, so for those of you who prefer fluff, hang in there, it'll be back later on. Also, if you have a suggestion as to where you want the story to go, let me know and I will try to incorporate it. Chapter 4 should be up by next Sunday night.

Author's Notes, 02/29/04:

Thanks to those who reviewed the first chapter. I hope the second one doesn't disappoint.

Well, I got the second chapter up. There isn't a whole lot of action in it, but don't worry, that's coming up in the next one. And I promise that the chapters will be longer than the first one, but probably not as long as this one. Please read and review. The more feedback I get, the better I can tailor the story to what you, the read, wants. Chapter 3 should be up by Sunday night.

Letter to the Reader:

Dear Reader,

First, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for choosing to read the story that follows. The choice of what to read in this incredibly fast world we live in is an ever more difficult choice given the amount of reading material and the utter lack of time in which to read it. And this endeavor is designed to be novel length.

I was inspired to write this story after reading several wonderful fan fictions. The concept for this story is complete and has been mapped from beginning to end. The only thing left to do is write it. :) I've decided to release this as a serial rather than waiting until it was all done and uploading it in one shot. I also want to hear what people think about the story and the direction they want it to go. Even though the plot is mapped, it is not set in stone and suggestions will be taken into consideration. Also, let me know if you don't like something. I'm not adverse to going back to a chapter and fixing something that people don't like.

Below is a table of contents so that you can see where we are and where we are going. Also, at the end of this foreword is a teaser for the book.

And, once again dear reader, thank you for reading my story.

Frederick Aloysius

For Kathryn

Synopsis:

It's been a busy year for Kim Possible. She's now a senior at Middleton High, captain of the varsity cheer squad, and one of the most popular girls in school. Oh, and after a nasty break-up with Josh, Kim has a new boyfriend. One her father is even unhappier about than he was with Josh.

Ron is also having a good year. After spending some time with Yori in Japan, he has honed his skills and is now Kim's partner, not sidekick. He's also got a spot on the Middleton baseball team and a brand new ride. Oh, and Ron's also got himself a girlfriend.

Life is good for our teen heroes until a break-in at a relatively obscure holographics plant comes to the attention of Team Possible. Suddenly, Kim and Ron are thrown into a conspiracy that reaches into the highest levels of law enforcement. And one of their own will be at the center of it.

Now, Kim and Ron are on the other side of the law. Not sure who is behind it or what their real motives are, they must piece together the plot against them before its too late. And, in the process, stop the most nefarious criminal they have ever faced.

Part I: Wrongfully Accused

Chapter 1: Good Morning Middleton

Chapter 2: Of Mondays, Mankeys, and Missions

Chapter 3: Mirage

Chapter 4: Decisions, Decision

Chapter 5: Every Dog Has His Day

Chapter 6: Damage Control

Chapter 7: The Best Laid Plans

Chapter 8: And the Cradle Will Fall

Chapter 9: Questions and Answers

Chapter 10: The Unusual Suspects

Chapter 11: Capture

Part II: On the Run

Chapter 12: Fallout

Chapter 13: Jail Break

Chapter 14: Infamous

Chapter 15: The Games Afoot

Chapter 16: Out of the Shadows

Chapter 17: The Bug and the Mole Rat

Chapter 18: Breadcrumbs

Chapter 19: Planning, Plotting, and Scheming

Chapter 20: A Piece of the Puzzle

Chapter 21: Course of Action

Part III: Redemption

Chapter 22: Settling Up

Chapter 23: Intelligence

Chapter 24: The Voice of Reason

Chapter 25: Laying In Wait

Chapter 26: Mousetrap

Chapter 27: The Man Behind the Curtain

Chapter 28: Operation 'Anything Is Possible'

Chapter 29: Clearing Their Good Name

Chapter 30: Aftermath


	2. Chapter 1: Good Morning Middleton

Note: Please see the foreword for updated Author's Notes

_Chapter 1: Good Morning Middleton_

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

It took almost a full minute for the annoying noise to rouse her from her sleep. Without bothering to even open her eyes, the lone occupant of the bed reached over and, rather violently given her nature, slammed the alarm clock off. She laid there, her head still buried in her pillow, fighting, pleading, willing herself to get up and start the day.

Several minutes passed where she hadn't so much as moved when finally the bright light that began to invade her room stirred her from her sleep. She groaned, opened one eye, and realized that she was not alone in her room. 

"Come on, Kimmie, time to get up. You're already late as it is, and you boyfriend will be here soon to pick you up," her mother said as she continued to open the blinds in her room. This had the desired effect Mrs. Dr. Possible was looking for. Between the words late and boyfriend, her daughter shifted from lethargic to wide-awake in 2 seconds flat. Kim Possible, average teenager and world hero, was ready to face the world. Or at least the day.

"Oh, God, Mom, what time is it?" she asked, suddenly worried that she wouldn't be ready on time. 

"It's 7:50. Do you want me to give him a call and let him know you're going to be running late?" her mother asked. By now, Kim had leaped off her bed, dived into her closet, and was throwing various articles of clothing in an attempt to find something to wear. Peaking her head out, she responded, "No, no, I'll make it." Then, grabbing her teal top and black pants, she leaped down the stairs that lead to her room and ran for the bathroom_. "I wish I still had enough energy to be that awake after only 4 hours of sleep," _her mother thought with a small smile as she closed the door Kim's room and descended the stairs. 

Five minutes later, it became apparent that even Kim had only so much energy to spare and she had used it all up getting ready as fast as she could. Showered and changed, she practically had to drag herself down to the kitchen for breakfast, all her energy spent in catching up this morning. She slid into one of the chairs at the kitchen table, sighed, and put her head down on the table. She didn't bother to look up when her mother put a bowl of cereal in front of her, but did when her brothers came crashing into the room. Apparently, they had gotten into an argument over something because they were wrestling each other. To Kim, it was impossible to distinguish where one twin ended and the other began; they were simply a ball of green and red that came crashing into the kitchen knocking over several chairs in the room. 

"JIM! TIM!" yelled their mother, "you boys need to stop right now! It is way too early in the morning for that kind of behavior."

"Your mother's right, boys, why don't you sit down and eat something?" 

Kim looked up in surprise, noticing for the first time that her father was also at the table reading the paper. _"Man, I must really be out of it to miss Dad like that"_ she thought as she began to eat her cereal. The tweebs, their argument long forgotten, had begun to plot their latest scheme as their father looked over his paper suspiciously. Kim was just happy to have a moment of peace and concentrated on her cereal. 

She finished the last of her breakfast, and took her bowl over to the sink to be cleaned. She was just about done when the phone rang, which her mother answered. "Oh, hi…. OK…. OK….OK, I'll let her know," she said and hung up. "Kimmie, that was your ride, he said to tell you that he's going to be running a little late today."

"Thanks Mom." She sighed, a smile playing at her lips. _"He must be just as tired as I am after last night,"_ she thought. Having a few minutes to kill, she sat back down in her chair and closed her eyes. 

"Rough night last night, Kimmie-cub?" her father asked in his easy, off-handed manner. 

"Yeah, it was killer. I didn't get back until 3:30 in the morning." 

Her father put down his paper and looked at her with a mix of concern and slight annoyance. "Was this a mission or a date that kept you out so late on a school night?" he asked. 

Kim, catching the look in her father's eye, began to feel just the tiniest bit nervous. "Uhh, well, Dad, it was a little of both," was all she managed to get out. 

"A little of both?"

"Well, yeah. It started off as a date, but then Wade beeped in and we were off to Peru. Monkey Fist discovered another monkey temple and we were called in to stop him."

"Oh. So, just how long was the date part of last night and how long was the mission part?"

Kim, knowing that this was not going to be a pleasant father-daughter conversation smiled uncomfortably at her father. "Ah, well, it's tough to say really…"

"Now, dear, leave her alone," interrupted her mother. "I'm sure that whatever time the date ended, everyone behaved themselves." 

Catching the hint that the last part of that statement was directed at her, Kim quickly agreed with her mother. "Absolutely. The only thing we did on the date part of last night was dinner and a movie." 

_"That's all we had time for"_ was what she thought but didn't add.

"Well, then, alright. Still, it would be nice if you would just spend one night at home each week. In your room. Reading quietly."

Relief flooded over her as she realized that she had avoided yet another conversation about her relationship. Things had been a little uneasy in the Possible household since Kim had started dating her new beau. And while her father had gotten somewhat used to having his daughter dating boys after her relationship with Josh, the new one had thrown things for a loop. But they had only been dating for a few weeks, and it was still new for everyone, especially Kim. 

She was startled out of her reflection on her current situation when the doorbell rang. Kim knew who it was immediately, and broke out into a smile. She ran past her mother, who had begun to get it, so that she could be the first one to get there. She threw open the door, upping the wattage on her smile, and embraced her boyfriend like she hadn't seen him in over a year. 

"Good morning to you too, KP" was all Ron Stoppable managed to say. He couldn't even return the hug as his girlfriend had his arms pinned at his side. But, he was laughing, which was a good thing, because Mondays got to everyone, including Ron. Especially after as late a night as they had last night. 

Kim gave him one final squeeze before letting go. When she stepped back, he was finally able to greet her in his favorite manner, with a kiss on her cheek. He would have preferred to kiss her properly, but her mother was standing behind Kim and Ron's discretion got the better of his desire. 

Slipping his hand down to grab hers, he entered the Possible household. "Good morning, Mrs. Dr. P" he said with his trademark goofy grin. Kim's mother smiled back, returning the sentiment. _"Looks like Mom is getting used to this, at least," _Kim thought to herself. 

Things were not so relaxed once they were in the kitchen, however. Kim's father, whose overprotectiveness was legendary in Middleton, had radically changed his view on Ron after Kim and Ron broke the news to her parents that they were now more than just best friends. He had gone back to reading his paper, but when Ron entered the kitchen holding hands with Kim, he tensed up.

"Good morning, Dr. Possible," Ron's voice was very low and shy showing every bit the anxiety that he was feeling.

"Ronald" came the terse reply. Kim could feel her boyfriend begin to sweat. She sighed, annoyed once again about her father's sudden change in attitude. The day after they went public with their relationship, she had a long conversation with her father about Ron. She tried to explain to him that he was the same old Ron, that nothing about him had changed, that he was still just as honorable and trustworthy. 

But all her arguments had fallen on deaf ears. As far as her father was concerned, he was now the enemy. Ron had betrayed him. Her father had always counted on the fact that no matter what happened, Ron was always at Kim's side to watch out for her. Sure, Kim was usually the one who was saving Ron on missions, but missions weren't what her father was worried about. It was her boyfriends. And now, he was his daughter's boyfriend. 

Kim, for her part, resigned herself to the fact that things were not going to return to normal anytime soon and seated herself at the table. Ron, unsure what to do, simply sat next to Kim. She saw that he was still uncomfortable in this situation, and reached over to give him a small squeeze of his hand. He smiled slightly, and despite his unease, began to relax a little. 

"Ron, would you like something to eat?" Kim's mom asked him. 

"No thanks, I already ate at home."

"That's a change," grumbled her father under his breath. Kim caught what he had said and shot her father a nasty look. Thankfully, Ron had missed the comment but he could sense Kim's mood change suddenly.

"Ah, KP, I think we better get going otherwise we'll be late for school."

"Good idea, Ron," she replied with another glare at her father, but he was hidden behind his paper and couldn't see. They were just about out of the kitchen when he looked up at them. 

"Kim, what are you doing after school today?"

"Umm, I have cheerleading practice, then Ron and I are going out to eat afterward."

"Wouldn't it be better if we all had dinner tonight as a family? Your mother can make that chicken dish you like so much."

Kim couldn't believe her ears. Was her father actually inviting Ron to have a civil dinner at their house? She decided to test the waters just to make sure.

"Umm, I don't know Dad. What time would you want us to show up for dinner?"

"Oh, I was thinking that it could just be the family tonight."

_"I knew it,"_ she thought bitterly. "Sorry, Dad, but practice is probably going to go real late tonight, so I won't be able to make it."

"Hmmm, that's too bad. I was looking forward to spending some time with my Kimmie-cub."

"Well, we'll just have to schedule it for some other time. Come on, Ron." And with that, she grabbed her boyfriend's arm and pulled him from the room. Which was a good thing, because had she stayed, she would have noticed the scowl on her father's face and the annoyed look that her mother was giving her father.

***

"That was fun," Ron quipped once they were outside. His fear had passed now that he was away from her father, and was being replaced with a slightly angry feeling at how he was now an outcast from the place he considered his home away from home for the past fourteen years. 

"I know," Kim apologized. He had taken the lead once they were out of the kitchen and was now standing in her driveway. She walked over to him, took his hand, and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

He began to smile once again which made her feel good. _"This is the Ron I know,"_ she thought, _"with his goofy grin, and cute brown eyes. Not the nervous wreck he becomes every time he's around Dad."_

She was brought out of her thoughts when he asked her, "What was that for?"

"For being such a good sport in there. Ron, I'm really sorry about the way my Dad is treating you lately. Don't worry, he'll come around. Eventually."

"I know," Ron sighed. "It's just that I've gone from being a part of the family to public enemy number one."

She kissed him once again, this time on the lips, and turned, saying, "Come on. We're going to be late."

Ron couldn't help but smile. From his point of view, life was rather sweet, despite Kim's Dad's new outlook on life. He had everything that he could ever want. He was dating the most beautiful girl in school. He was a senior now, and unlike previous school years, he was enjoying a small amount of popularity. _"Probably because I'm now Kim's boyfriend,"_ he thought with a smile. He was much more capable on missions, thanks to a month spent last summer honing his skills at Yamanuchi. And he had a car.

Ron had turned seventeen while he was in Japan, and when he came home he found his birthday present waiting for him in his driveway. It was old, and had a number of miles, but it still ran well and, other than Kim, was his pride and joy. And, considering that many of the students at Middleton High didn't have cars (even the seniors), he was the object of a lot of envy. 

But Ron was oblivious to that fact as he opened the passenger side door for Kim to get in. He felt the spring return to his step as he moved to the other side of the car and got in. A few minutes later, they were driving towards Middleton High.

"So, what times does practice get out tonight?" Ron asked.

"Around 5pm. Your's?"

"About the same time." After Ron's trip to Japan, several coaches had taken notice of his newfound skills and the baseball coach convinced him to try out. As it turns out, Mystical Monkey Power is good for more than just martial arts skill. Like hitting a small, white ball over 300 ft. It took the coach only 30 minutes to realize his potential and made him the starting right fielder for the Middleton Mad Dogs. 

"I wish you hadn't quit the squad. I miss you at practice."

"I know, but coach was really excited after I tried out and I thought I'd give at least one sport a try while I was in high school. Besides, there was a freshman who really wanted to take over the Middleton Mad Dog for me after graduation and I figured I'd let him get started early." 

_"And the only reason I ever did it in the first place was to be closer to you."_ was the unspoken thought that Ron added. 

"Still…" Kim sighed.

Ron laughed.  "KP, we have every class together, lunch together, and we're going on a date tonight. I think we can survive a two and a half hour break in the middle of the day."

This made her smile. He was right, of course. She could survive without her Ron for a few hours. But she had another reason for wanting her boyfriend around at cheerleading practice. "It wouldn't be that bad if it wasn't for the fact that the time I spend away from you is time I have to spend with Bonnie."

"Ugh. Just remember, no matter how bad she gets, you're the captain of the varsity cheer squad. The squad chose you, just like they've done every year since sixth grade, to lead them. They trust you, and believe in you." He reached over and started to gently rub her shoulder, getting the desired effect. "Look, at least Bonnie doesn't have an innate ability to control green energy."

Kim chuckled. "If she did, I'm sure all she'd do is complain how it clashed with her nails." Now it was Ron's turn to laugh, and his laughter infected Kim until the two of them were almost doubled over. Ron had to pull over to the side of the road to keep from driving off into a ditch. 

Finally able to control himself, Ron looked over at his girlfriend who was still fighting to stop and get some air in her lungs. As he was watching her, her face flush and gasping for air, he once again thanked whatever force out there had smiled upon him and brought the two of them together. 

Kim had regained control and was now sitting back looking over at Ron. The smile that she was sporting for him went from pure fun to something more suggestive. Ron, taking the hint, leaned in a kissed her, long and slow the way he liked. They continued for a few minutes before parting. "Now that's the right way to start the morning," Ron whispered to her. 

She giggled and kissed him again, lightly this time. "Come on, we've gotta get going or we're really gonna be late."

Her boyfriend started the car once again, and got back on the road. Kim, for her part, was content to simply lean back and gaze out the window for the rest of the ride to Middleton High. Pretty soon, she recognized the telltale signs and realized that she was at school. A part of her was melancholy because she wouldn't have Ron all to herself until later that day. But, still, despite the incident at home, this day had started off on a rather good note. 

Unfortunately for the both of them, their day was about to take a decidedly downward turn.


	3. Chapter 2: Of Mondays, Mankeys, and Miss...

Note: Please see the Foreword for updated Author's Notes

_Chapter 2: Of Mondays, Mankeys, and Missions_

Ron was able to navigate his car through the student parking lot with practiced ease. He shot a sideways glance at Kim. She appeared to be the picture of perfect calm, but he knew her too well. He could see just the faintest glimmer of anxiety behind her sparkling emerald eyes, causing him to laugh to himself. _"We've been on hundreds of missions and faced dozens of villains, but this is what she worries about," _he thought. _"Oh, well. If only she knew that it was more than just a little training in Japan that's behind my new skills."_

But he was unable to tell her the whole truth about Yamanuchi. At least, not yet. He had had many conversations with Master Sensei during his month in Japan, but the Master would not budge. Ron had argued that she was part of Team Possible, that she had every right to know, that she could keep the secret of Yamanuchi safe. But, most importantly, he hated the fact that he had to keep his ability and power from the one person to whom he could tell anything. Yet, Master Sensei would only reply that the cherry blossom reveals itself only when the conditions are right. Ron had figured out that that meant not yet, but hadn't really understood anymore of his cryptic message.

He sighed as he pulled his car into one of the marked spots. Ron looked once more, and the slight trace of fear in his girlfriend's eyes was gone. She got out, as did he, and they collected their belongings. The young couple made their way to the front of the school where they had to part before going to homeroom. Ron needed to drop off his practice gear in the gym and Kim had to stop at her locker to grab another book. He kissed her quickly on the cheek, and turned for the gym.

Kim continued into the school, heading for her locker. The hallways were noticeably absent of students, which caused her to wonder where everybody was. Then she remembered that she was late and that everyone was already in homeroom. She looked at her watch, realized that she was already ten minutes late, and picked up the pace. She rounded a corner and was almost to her locker when... 

"Kim!"

Kim stopped, suppressing the urge to shudder. She instantly recognized the owner of that voice, with its trace of smugness and superiority, but the knowledge only made her want to turn and run instead of returning the greeting. Bracing herself, she turned around.

"Good morning, Bonnie," Kim said pleasantly. Bonnie came running up to her and it was clear that the brunette was not happy with something. She had her hands on her hips, she was taping her foot impatiently, and Kim could see the red in her face despite the deep tan. _"Bonnie's mad at something I did? No shock there,"_ thought Kim, _"I wonder what got Bon-Bon to fly off the handle this time."_

"Kim, where have you been?" Kim tried to respond, but Bonnie cut her off with a wave of her hand. "It doesn't matter. What does matter is what you're going to do about this."

Kim, having missed the daily memo on what Bonnie was caring about this morning, was completely confused. "Bonnie, what are you talking about? It's still early in the morning, what could have possibly have happened by now?" she replied, annoyed that Bonnie couldn't just ask a simple question. With Bonnie, everything was so the drama.

"You mean you don't know? Kim, you need to stay on top of these things better. I mean, the squad deserves a captain that can give 110%, and if you're not up for the job, then maybe someone else should take over." Bonnie smiled her most condescending smile at Kim, the implied hint being that she should be captain instead of Kim.

Kim could feel her anger getting the better of her and knew that this was exactly what Bonnie wanted. She swallowed hard, forcing herself to calm down. She rubbed her temples, counted to ten, and then looked at Bonnie once again. "Bonnie, why don't you start by telling me what is going on."

"Well, the Middleton School Board met yesterday to vote on the annual budget. Apparently, there is a budget gap of several thousand dollars and instead of raising taxes, they're going to cut school programs."

Kim smiled and began to relax as she took the news in stride. "Bonnie, do you really think that the school board is going to cut the cheerleading squad? I mean, we must take up, what, like less than a millionth of the budget."

"Yes, but guess who was there last night? Mr. Barkin."

Kim's mood suddenly changed, and not for the better. Mr. Barkin is Middleton High's Vice Principal. He's known for bringing a strict but random sense of discipline to the school, and many of the students believed that he still thought he was in the army. 

He was also the faculty advisor to the cheer squad. Every club or sport at Middleton High needed a member of the faculty to oversee them, and this rule applied to the cheerleaders as well, despite the fact that they were pretty much autonomous. This job fell to Mr. Barkin, who personally felt it was beneath him to supervise cheerleaders. And he was very vocal in his dislike of this particular 'chore', as he put it. 

Kim was now eyeing Bonnie with some trepidation. "Did he say anything at the meeting?" she asked her fellow cheerleader. 

"Oh, he said plenty. Like how the cheerleaders main purpose was to root for the football team. And that school sponsored competitions and new uniforms were a waste of resources that could be put to better use. Although he did also recommend getting rid of the Middleton Mad Dog." Bonnie's dislike for the foam-spitting mascot hadn't abated much after Ron had passed the torch to the new guy.

"So, what, we're supposed to just sit on the sidelines at games and look pretty?" Kim demanded. She was once again angry, but this time at Barkin and not Bonnie.

"If Barkin gets his way, then, yes. Kim, what are you going to do about this?"

"I don't know. Look, Bonnie, I'm late for homeroom and I need some time to think about this. Why don't we take this up again at practice this afternoon?"

"Fine, Kim, whatever. Just make sure that you have a plan by practice." And with that, she stormed off in a huff.

Kim sighed. _"It's definitely a Monday,"_ she thought to herself. She then turned, grabbed her book from her locker, and sped off towards homeroom.

***

Ron walked into the locker room shortly after he left Kim. It was your typical high school locker room, with cold blue tile and beat up metal lockers. Little light was coming in through the small windows that ran around the top of the room, and Ron found himself alone. 

He quickly moved to his locker and put in the combination, revealing an interior that was a reflection of its owner: completely disorganized. Many students at Middleton High had allowed their regular lockers to become filled with loose paper and other assorted garbage, but everyone else on the baseball team could only help but wonder how Ron Stoppable managed to get his athletic locker so messy as well. 

But Ron didn't have time (nor the desire) to clean out his locker now, so he simply shoved things aside until he had made enough room for his gear. Stowing it securely, he shut his locker, and turned to leave. He was almost to the exit of the locker room when... 

"Ron!"

_"Ugh,"_ Ron thought. _"This is not a conversation that I need right now. Or ever._"

Still, he couldn't ignore the owner of the voice forever, and it would simply be rude, albeit expedient, to simply walk off without acknowledging him. So, he turned to talk to the captain of the varsity basketball team. "Good morning, Josh. What's up?"

"Nothing much. I was just surprised to see someone else in here this early in the morning." He was being friendly with Ron and had on a mischievous smile, the combination of which put Ron instantly on the defensive.

"I was just dropping off my gear before heading to homeroom. What are you doing here? Basketball season ended, like, weeks ago."

"The same thing as you, dropping of my gear." The smile never left his face and now Ron was even more confused.

"Your gear?"

"Yep. Oh, haven't you heard? Coach Hill was talking to Coach Powell about how it would be such a shame to not have someone of my talent playing for the baseball team. So, Coach Powell gave me a once over and, with a little help from Coach Hill, decided to give me a spot on the team."

Ron felt himself go entirely cold. He knew that Josh had never had any interest in baseball, and now all of a sudden he was calling in favors to get on the team. But Ron had a sneaking suspicion as to Josh's true motives and could feel himself go from cold numb to red-hot. And it wasn't helping matters that the sanctimonious grin Josh was wearing had never left his face. 

"Well, congratulations," Ron managed to stammer out. "I'm sure you'll do well."

"Oh, I'm positive I'll do well. And it'll be a nice change of pace to get someone out on the field who actually has some talent."

Ron, his anger rising, opened his mouth to tell Josh exactly what he could do with his 'talent'. But, he thought better of it and didn't take the bait. "Well, Josh, I've gotta get going now. Homeroom. See you this afternoon at practice." And with that, Ron turned to leave. 

He only got a few steps, however, before his curiosity got the better of him. He stopped, and with reluctance, asked, "So, why the sudden interest in baseball, Josh? I mean, you've never shown any interest before."

Josh had finished putting his gear in his locker and came around to face Ron. His smile, if it was possible, was actually wider. "I think you know the reason, Stoppable."

Ron knew damn well what the reason was but he wanted Josh to say it. "Sorry, I'm really not sure. I just want to make sure that you're ready to make a commitment to this team and not here for some other reason." Josh's smile slipped just ever so slightly, and Ron knew that he had angered him. 

"Baseball," Josh explained, "it seems, is the best way to get back what is rightfully mine."

Now it was Ron's turn to smile. _"He's so obvious," _thought Ron. _"What is rightfully mine! Well, too bad buddy, you blew your chance."_

"Oh, and what would that be?" Ron asked sweetly, daring him to be so stupid as to say it out loud.

The smile was now gone from Josh's face and Ron could see it turn a nice shade of red. Josh clenched his hands into fists, stormed over to just inches in front of Ron, and put a finger in his chest. "Listen, Stoppable, we both know that I'm better than you. Once I'm done running circles around you on the field out there, she's going to realize it too. Then she's gonna dump you like yesterday's news and come back to me. Where she belongs."

Ron couldn't help but breakout into a fit of laughter at what Josh had said, which only enraged the boy further. He demanded to know just what was so funny.

"You want to know what's funny? The fact that you think Kim would leave me simply because you're better than me in baseball. I mean, I know you didn't really care for her, but I didn't think you thought she was that shallow."

That turned out to be the straw that broke the camel's back. Without thinking, Josh threw a punch at Ron's head. Unfortunately for the boy, Josh had no way of knowing that Ron was a little different than all the other guys that he thought were geeks. With graceful moves, Ron easily dodged the attack, grabbed Josh's arm, and used his momentum to throw him into a nearby locker. 

The noise of the argument had attracted the attention of Coach Powell, who had, until now, been content to simply read his paper in the office that adjoined the locker room. When he heard the metallic clang of Josh hitting the locker, he stuck his head out the door to the office and yelled, "What's going on down there, Stoppable, Mankey?"

Josh stood up, rubbing his sore head, and replied, "Nothing, coach, I just slipped on the tile, that's all." Satisfied with this answer, the coach returned to reading his paper. 

"Look, Stoppable," Josh whispered angrily, "everyone gets lucky, but just watch out next time. And Kim will be mine again. Whether she comes willingly or by force." And with that, he left Ron standing there.

Ron was not feeling as good as he had been when he was taunting Josh. That last little bit that Josh said had worried him. Ron knew that he never had any true feelings for Kim. He knew that even before they were going out. Yet, he never thought of Josh as the jealous type, not the type to do something reckless. But Ron couldn't help worrying about what Josh had meant by 'force'. He'd have to keep a closer eye on his Kimmie, if not for her safety (as he was sure she could handle the likes of Josh Mankey) then for his own peace of mind. 

He sighed. _"Man, it is definitely a Monday," _he thought as he hurried off to homeroom.

***

The rest of the day did not go any better for Kim and Ron. Given both of their unpleasant conversations before homeroom, they were extremely late. To make matters worse, they happened to arrive at homeroom at the same time and so their homeroom teacher, Mrs. Burns, drew her own conclusions as to why they were late. She had kept them after to lecture them on the importance of punctuality and that some things were more important than fooling around with your girlfriend. The lecture wouldn't have been that bad had that been what they were doing, but given the Bonnie and Josh situations that they had found themselves in, it amounted to adding insult to injury. 

Morning classes also proved to be a sore point that day, especially first period calculus. Ms. Whisp had given them back their tests that they took on Friday. Ron hadn't faired too bad, and was quite pleased when he got a C. His happiness soon dried up, however, when Kim got her test back and it was also a C. Kim, who was normally an A student, became depressed because she thought she had done well on it. This only served to cause Ron to get into a funk as well. Kim, trying to compensate for the perceived disaster in calc, concentrated extra hard in her remaining classes so much so that Ron couldn't even get a word in edgewise. She said they'd catch up in lunch, but as luck would have it, Coach Powell wanted to see Ron about something then and so she ended up eating alone. 

So, between two quick hellos in the hallway in between classes and the lecture in homeroom, the couple hadn't spent more than ten minutes in each other's company before the school day was out. Both of them in a foul mood, the next time they really had any time to talk was when they literally ran into each other in front of the entrances to the locker rooms. 

"Oh, man, KP, I'm sorry," Ron apologized, as he rubbed his head. 

"Don't worry. No harm, no foul," she said, giving him her first smile since before her morning chat with Bonnie. "Has your day been going as well as mine?"

"Better," he replied bitterly. But, then he gave her a small smile and kissed her on the forehead. "Thank God Monday only comes once a week."

She chuckled. "And Sundays."

"Huh?"

"Oh, I'm just having a little problem with Barkin. He seems to think that Middleton High doesn't need a cheerleading team."

"Nothing new there, KP."

"Yeah, its just that he's taking it to a truly critical level this time." She sighed, and shook her head. "Don't worry about it, I can handle the Barkin situation. How about you? I heard someone new made the team."

She was looking to take her boyfriend's mind off of the terrible school day, but instead she had managed to sour his expression even more. "Well, 'made the team' isn't exactly what happened," Ron explained, "more like 'bribed his way on'."

"Bribed his way?"

"Yeah, it seems that he was able to get the basketball coach to force Coach Powell to give him a spot on the squad."

"But which student could get the basketball coach to do…." She trailed off, fitting the pieces together and not liking what it added up to. "Ron, its not…"

"Yep. Josh Mankey."

Even at the mere mention of his name, Kim felt disgusted. High School can be a rough time for young romance, and the breakups can make the gossip rounds for weeks. But the Mankey-Possible breakup was the stuff of legends. The unfortunate part was that she decided to end it in front of the entire basketball team. Middleton had just been eliminated in the semi-finals of the state tournament, and Josh was still stinging from the loss. Kim had tried to cheer him up, but instead of lifting his spirits, he decided to take out all his frustrations on her. For Kim, that was the last straw and she let Josh know exactly how she felt. They ended up making quite a scene, and despite Ron's best efforts to keep it low profile, every student in Middleton High knew about it by the next day. Three months had passed since then, and although there was other fare for the gossip hounds, this one just wouldn't die.

"But, why?" Kim asked Ron. "I mean, he never cared for anything other than basketball and his artwork."

Ron narrowed his eyes. "I think his interest in baseball began the day I made the team. He's still not thrilled with me going out with you."

_"That's putting it mildly," _Kim thought.

"Listen, KP," Ron said in his sweet, concerned voice, "just be careful around him for the next few days, OK?"

She smiled at the thought of her needing to ever be careful around Josh. Then, she smiled even wider at the thought that Ron was concerned for her. "Oh, Ron, I'm a big girl now. I think I can handle anything he throws at me." 

He stood there for a moment, allowing himself to come to grips with the situation. Then, he smiled and took both her hands in his. "OK," he said softly. "Listen, I'll see you after practice?"

"Meet me in front of the school at six." She kissed him quickly and turned, heading into the girl's locker room.

***

Ten minutes later, Kim had changed into her cheerleading uniform and headed out into the gym. Everyone had already assembled on the bleachers and the first order of business was giving a pep talk to the girls on the squad. "OK girls listen up! We need to give a 110% at today's practice to get ready for the tri-city cheer-off! It's only in a few days, and I want to try out some new moves so…" She stopped when she saw that Bonnie, who was sitting in the back of the group, had her hand raised and was sporting her annoyed look. Kim had a bad feeling about where this was going, but she couldn't just ignore Bonnie, no matter how much she'd like to. "Umm, yes, Bonnie, what is it?"

"Kim," she said, standing up and making her way over to the captain, "I think we have something more important to discuss than the tri-city cheer-off."

_"Oh, boy, here we go…" _thought Kim.

The rest of the squad looked around at one another, a buzz of confusion running through the group. They had been gearing up for this tournament for weeks, what could possibly be more important right now?

"Well, Bonnie, I was hoping to discuss this with everybody after practice. This 'sitch or not, we still have to be ready to go in 5 days." The exasperation on her face was plain, and the rest of the squad could see it. The last thing they wanted was yet another fight between Kim and Bonnie, yet they were feeling left out of the loop and wanted to know just what was going on.

Tara spoke up first. "Well, Kim, now that Bonnie's brought it up, why don't we just talk about it now?"

Bonnie sensed that she now had the advantage and quickly pressed on. "Kim, I think it's obvious that we should talk about the 'sitch now." Then, turning towards the team, she dropped her bombshell. "Barkin has arranged to get rid of the cheerleading team."

That statement had exactly the desired effect that Bonnie was looking for. Chaos spread throughout the squad. The girls began looking at each other, a million questions springing from them assaulting their captain. They wanted to know what was going on and they wanted to know now.

"Alright, alright, calm down everyone!" Kim yelled, trying to regain control of the situation. "Here's the 'sitch. The school board is looking for ways to cut the budget and Barkin suggested to them that they cut the cheer squad. But," she continued with a glare at Bonnie, "a decision has not been made yet. As of right now, we are still here and we have a competition this weekend. So, we need to say focused on that right now."

Tara, however, was not convinced. "So, there's still the possibility of him getting rid of us?"

Kim looked at the entire team and they were all staring back at her, none of them thinking about practice or the tournament. Kim resigned herself to the fact that she was going to have to deal with this now, and began to answer some of their questions.

"Yes, Tara, there's that possibility, but it's a remote one." 

"At the school board meeting last night."

 "No, they're not suspending the team until a decision is made."

 "Yes, we're still on for this Saturday."

As the questions mounted, Kim could feel the energy drain from her. Between the horrible school day and now having to comfort six cheerleaders, all she felt like doing was going home and taking a nap. Trying to wrap-up the question and answer session, Kim asked, "So, are there any more questions? Good, then we can…"

"I have a question, Kim," interrupted Bonnie. She had been quiet this entire time, which had surprised, and worried, Kim. Bonnie, however, knew all this already and had waited until things had settled down and she had the squad's undivided attention before speaking again. She gave Kim one of her 'I've-got-you-now' smiles before continuing. "As the captain, just what do you plan on doing about this?"

Kim wasn't expecting this question. She had only known about the problem since this morning and between the homeroom fiasco and the calc test, she hadn't so much as given it another thought. Now, Bonnie had Kim right where she wanted her, and it looked like Bonnie was going to take full advantage of the situation.

"Ah, well, Bonnie, I haven't had the time yet to put together a plan as to how to handle this…" Kim stammered.

But Bonnie wasn't about to let it drop that easily. "But, Kim, you're the captain! Shouldn't you have spent some time at least thinking about this? I mean, the team should be your first priority as captain, but," Bonnie continued, putting a hand on Kim's shoulder, "if your attention is elsewhere, like, say, with your boyfriend, then maybe the team deserves someone who can give it their all."

All this had the effect of turning Kim's face the same color as her hair. Kim shrugged her shoulders violently, so as to throw Bonnie's hand off her, and turned on the other cheerleader. "Look, Bonnie, what I do with Ron is absolutely none of your concern and has nothing to do with this conversation."

"I agree with Kim that Ron has nothing to do with this," Tara chimed in, "but, Kim, do you have any idea what you're going to do to fix this?"

Kim, who had already had enough with Bonnie, made the unfortunate decision to take some of her frustration out on Tara. "Tara, I have no idea!" she yelled. "I only found out this morning when Bonnie told me and I haven't had anytime to figure anything out yet!"

By this time, Bonnie realized that she could probably get an ally in Tara after Kim's little outburst and so she sat down next to Tara. "By the way, Kim," Bonnie began in a sarcastically sweet tone, "why is it that you only found out this morning? I mean, shouldn't you have been at the school board meeting last night?"

Kim, who had been staring at Tara the whole time, looked like someone had slapped her across the face. She turned to Bonnie with a look of confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Well, don't you think it would have been better if the captain was there to hear the news in person?" Bonnie smiled. "Maybe then, you could have come up with a plan to fix this mess by now."

This line of attack was completely unexpected and had thrown Kim off balance. "Ah, I agree, and if I had known about the meeting, I certainly would have been there."

"But, Kim," Bonnie went on. She could sense the blood in the water and was moving in for the kill. "Isn't it your job as captain to know about these kind of meetings? And just what were you doing while the meeting was being held anyway?"

"Yes, Kim, I'd really like to know that myself." This last bit came from Tara, who was still unhappy with Kim for the outburst at her earlier. The other girls murmured their interest in knowing just what their captain was doing then.

"Ah, well, I was on a mission in Peru, and…"

"Was that all you did last night, Kim?" Bonnie asked in her sickly sweet voice. She knew full well that Kim had had a date last night, and wanted her to admit as much.

Kim knew that she had been trapped. Not that she was sorry for her date with Ron or would ever apologize for it, but she knew that this was not going to go over well with the rest of the squad. She squared her shoulders and in a dignified voice replied, "If you must know, Bonnie, I also had a date last night."

"A date?" Bonnie was putting on an Oscar performance today with her insincere shock at something she had already known. "Kim, I know that you and Ron just starting going out, but don't you think your commitment to the team is more important than one date?"

"Yeah, Kim! Aren't you committed to the team?" Tara demanded. She had decided to take up the charge against Kim, which shocked the captain, as Tara had always been nice to her. Even given Kim's outburst at her earlier, Kim felt that it was not cause enough for Tara to attack her like this. 

What Kim did not know, and what no one else knew, was that Tara was harboring a secret crush on Ron. In fact, she had been crushing on him since sophomore year, but was afraid to ever ask him out. It was a combination of her being too shy to ask a guy out, and Ron not being all that popular that had kept her from saying something to him. It had never really bothered her because Ron had never dated anyone before, so she could wait, content with the knowledge that she could ask him out anytime.

By the time Ron had lost his social pariah status, she had overcome her own insecurities about being the one to ask for a date and was ready to make her move. Unfortunately, she was a little bit too late and by that time, Ron had already gotten together with Kim. Not that Tara was the type to hold a grudge (she always felt that it was her own fault that it was Ron and Kim and not Ron and her), but the combination of Kim's attack on her and the fact that she had missed that meeting to go on a date with Ron sparked Tara's anger. And she was going to return the favor for Kim's earlier outburst and take it out on Kim. 

But Kim didn't know this, and now she was forced to fight the war on two fronts, not just one. Kim started to tell Tara that she was 100% committed to the squad when Tara continued the offensive, "I just don't see how you can say that your 100% committed to the team when it's clear that you'd rather spend time with Ron than do your job as the team captain."

Kim, the hurt that she was feeling evident in her voice, responded, "Tara, I don't think that that's really called for. I do a lot for the team…"

"Yes, but is it enough?" Bonnie questioned. "I mean, if this is your best, then maybe your best just isn't good enough. Maybe its time for someone to lead the team who can give her full attention to the squad."

Kim was about to let Bonnie know just what she thought of her leadership skills when Tara sided with Bonnie. "I think that that's a good idea. Maybe its time for the team to rethink just who we want leading us. I say that after the tri-city tournament this Saturday, we all meet to discuss this. All in favor?"

Tara looked around to the other girls in the squad to gauge their reaction. She was unaware that Bonnie was doing the same thing, except that while Tara had a curious expression, Bonnie's was one of intimidation. It only took a few seconds for the team to cave in and agree to the plan of action.

Kim, who was unable to come to her own aid during the attack by Bonnie and Tara, had gone through several shades of red until she was now almost a purple color. Right now, all she wanted to do was to tell the squad how Bonnie had manipulated them, how Tara was being completely unfair, and that she would handle the situation. Reason kicked in, however, and she kept her mouth shut. She had lost the battle and not the war, but if she were to fly off the handle, then that would be the end of it and Bonnie would be captain. 

Swallowing her pride, Kim put an end to the discussion. "OK, then, we will discuss the leadership of the cheer team after the tournament. In the mean time, we need to start working on our routine, otherwise it won't matter who the captain is after this weekend. Come on, let's get started." And with that, she turned away from the bleachers and headed towards the middle of the gym to start practice. 

The one good thing that came from the discussion was that it put Bonnie in a good mood and so Kim didn't have to put up with Bonnie's constant whining throughout practice. Which was a good thing because Kim had other things to worry about during practice. While the cheer squad had seen many Kim-Bonnie fights over the years, this one was somehow different. Probably because this one was a Kim vs. Bonnie-Tara spat. 

But whatever the reason, the team was walking around on eggshells throughout practice. They were stiff and were missing their cues, which caused the human pyramid to collapse for the third time. Kim was beginning to feel a mix of anger and frustration, but she was going to be super polite to all the girls. She needed friends right now, not more enemies. 

As the practice wore on, however, the girls began to relax a little and everyone started hit their mark. Even Kim was beginning to lose herself in the work and it looked like everything was getting back to a somewhat normal state. That is, until they tried the pyramid again.

The girls were all in a line in preparation for their back flip into the pyramid. Kim, as always, was at the end of the line as she was the top of the pyramid. She was just about to pump her legs to start the flip when she overheard a small piece of Tara's conversation with one of the other cheerleaders.

"It's like I said," Tara whispered, "I just don't think Kim is right for the job anymore…"

This sent a flash of anger shooting through Kim. She had thought that things were calming down and that the girls were regaining their senses, which is why it seemed that Tara's conversation was coming from out of left field. In her anger, Kim kicked off the ground just a tad too hard and instead of gracefully landing on top of the pyramid, she overshot it. 

Seven pairs of eyes watched as Kim began her approach towards the pyramid gracefully but then as the head cheerleader began to realize what the other cheerleaders already knew, she tried to compensate. She reached out in an attempt to land on the top of the pyramid in a handstand instead of on her feet, but her momentum was just too much. She caught hold of the arms of the two girls on top and continued to soar backwards. The two girls on top were not prepared for this and quickly lost their balance, dragging themselves and the bottom row down into a huge pile on the gym floor.

From the outside, it looked like one big tangle of arms and legs as the cheerleaders struggled to free themselves. As fate would have it, Kim ended up right next to Tara and Bonnie. Both girls were a little disoriented, and Tara hadn't notice Kim yet when she leaned over to Bonnie and whispered, "So much for a hundred percent."

Tara, however, was just a bit too loud and Kim had caught what she had said. Kim forgot that her position as captain was already in jeopardy, and decided that she had taken enough crap for one day.

"Well, Tara," Kim said quietly but with venom in her voice, "it isn't exactly giving 100% now either when you're trying to convince people to get rid of me in the middle of practice."

But Tara wasn't about to concede anything to Kim. With an expression of feigned shock, Tara placed her hand over her chest. "Kim, I have no idea what you are talking about."

"You know very well what I'm talking about. You want to discuss who should be the captain, fine, but do it on your own time." Kim could feel herself losing control again, but the frustration of the entire day came crashing down on her and she no longer cared.

Bonnie, who had come to learn exactly when Kim was beginning to lose it after so many arguments with her over the years, saw she had an opening and took it. "So, Kim, now its not enough for the cheer squad to do what you want, but now we've got to think what you want as well?"

Kim turned from Tara to Bonnie as all three of them got up from the floor. "Look, Bonnie, no one is telling people what to think. I'll I'm saying is…"

"We all know exactly what you're saying, Kim," Tara interrupted.

Kim had had enough. She took a step closer to Tara and pointed her finger right in Tara's face. "Now, wait just a minute…"

"Possible!"

The entire team turned to see the owner of the voice, but everyone already knew whom it belonged to. Mr. Barkin, who had never been to a cheerleading practice before, had picked not only this particular one as his first, but also happened to pick that particular moment in which to enter the gym. There he was, standing in the doorway to the gym, and he did not look happy.

He motioned for Kim to come over to where he was standing. "Possible, can I have a moment of your time?"

The rest of the team began laughing quietly. Kim looked from the silently laughing squad back to the annoyed looking Barkin and hung her head in defeat. She knew that she was busted and that Barkin had probably only seen when Kim had stuck her finger in Tara's face. 

_"Today just keeps getting better and better,"_ Kim thought bitterly as she walked over to where Barkin was standing.

When she was face to face with Barkin, he continued, albeit loud enough for everyone in the gym to hear him. "Possible, just what did you think you were doing back there?"

Kim blushed a bright red and began to fidget in front of Barkin. She was never in trouble in school and simply didn't have enough experience in these types of situations to allow herself to calm down and explain herself. "Ah, well, Mr. Barkin, you see…"

But it was Barkin's show and he was going to run it. "Possible, the cheer squad is designed to bring peppiness and school spirit to the student of Middleton High, not for you to go around picking fights with other students."

Kim though that this was an incredibly unfair portrayal of the day's events, but decided to keep her mouth shut in hopes that Barkin's anger would just blow over. 

Mr. Barkin, however, wasn't about to pass on an opportunity to reprimand one of the cheerleaders that he so hated to 'baby-sit', as he put it. "Why don't you go hit the showers a little early today so that you have some more time to think about the true nature of the cheer squad." He smiled down at Kim in a way that suggested that this was the final word on the matter. 

Kim took one last look at the rest of the team and became even more depressed, if that was possible, at the sight of Bonnie taking over the practice. She slowly collected her things and made the trek to the locker room. She showered and changed quickly, as she didn't want to be there when the rest of the squad showed up after practice. 

The quiet locker room had afforded her a moment to reflect on the day. Between the homeroom lecture and the calc nightmare and now the possibility of losing her position as captain of the cheerleaders, all Kim wanted to do was go home and crawl into bed. She was planning on doing just that when the first happy though that she had since the end of school came to her. She had a date tonight! A small smile began struggling at her lips as she realized that, although her day had been one from hell, maybe she could have a happy ending to it. It was only 5:45 so she would be a little early, but fifteen minutes was a short time to wait for her Ron. She grabbed her jacket and headed for the front of the school.

***

Ron thought he was going to pass out. His face was flush and he was doubled over, gasping for air. He, along with the rest of the baseball team, had just finished warming-up, which was only supposed to get the blood flowing in preparation for the full practice. Instead, it left them feeling like they had just had two practices, back to back. And there was another two full hours to go.

This was all thanks to the newest member of the squad. His arrival had been met with mixed reviews. Some of the baseball team were also on the basketball team, so they had been friends and teammates of Josh for four years. Others, who were tired of the basketball team getting all the glory in Middleton, resented the fact that he had gotten on the team without so much as a tryout. Then there was Ron, who had any number of reasons to dislike Josh.

But, love him or hate him, Josh was on the team and here to stay. He was already in the locker room when Ron went in some forty minutes ago to get ready for practice. He had seen Josh, but Josh had missed Ron. _"Good," _Ron thought, _"I can avoid him until we get out on the field."_

Changing quickly, he was able to get out of the locker room before Josh and jog down to the baseball diamond. There, he did some light stretching until he was loose and ready to go. By this time, more and more of the team had joined him and they were playing catch, waiting for the coach to arrive. 

Coach Powell got there a few minutes later and called a team meeting before they started. He started by saying that there was a new member of the team and introducing Josh. Not that anyone was surprised. His little coup to get onto the baseball team had traveled the gossip circuit pretty quickly, so that by lunchtime everyone in school was well aware of the situation. What everyone was wondering was just how Ron Stoppable was going to take it.

After the introductions, the coach went on to talk about the upcoming schedule for a few minutes. Josh sat down with the rest of the team, and it became apparent that the team was splitting itself down the middle between the Josh lovers and the Josh haters. No one was really paying any attention to Coach Powell after a while, which caused him to grow annoyed with this team. So, he finished the meeting quickly telling them that if they didn't want to listen to him talk then they could just do more warm-ups.

This generated a chorus of groans from the players that fell on the coach's deaf ears. "I think you guys are getting a little soft. Maybe some new blood can shake some life into you. Mankey! Take over the training. I'll be back in a little while." And with that, he turned to go back into the gym. 

Taking his cue, Josh got up and headed to the front of the assembled team. "Alright, everyone, you heard the coach. Let's get going." And with that, he turned towards the track to start the two miles that the team ran each day. Everyone on the squad was in good shape and the jog didn't tire anyone out. Once they were done, Josh led them through the standard routine of stretching and calisthenics on the football field that was inside the track. After a half an hour, the team was fully limber and ready to go. 

Usually at this point, the player that coach had selected to run the warm-ups would turn it back over to him, but Coach Powell hadn't come back yet from wherever he had gone off to. The team just stood around, not sure what to do exactly. After a few minutes of this, Josh spoke up. "Well, since coach isn't here, why don't we try some special calisthenics?"

Since the team didn't have anything else to do, plus the fact that they were curious as to what he meant by 'special calisthenics', they agreed to see what Josh had in mind. Ron had his reservations about all this, but seeing as how Josh's request wasn't out of line, he acquiesced. 

It was Josh's idea, so everyone deferred to his lead. "It's simple. We're going to play a version of 'King of the Hill' and all you have to do is what are called suicide runs. Everyone lines up on the goal line. Once signaled, you run to the five-yard line, touch it, then run back to the goal line and touch it. You then repeat the process with the ten-yard line and then the fifteen. Any questions?"

This sounded more like a particularly cruel form of torture to the guys on the team rather than something to do to kill time. "Umm, Josh," Ron spoke up voicing the reservations of the rest of the team, "don't you think that's a little harsh for a warm-up?"

"We did this at every practice for the basketball team, Stoppable. I guess the guys on that team are just better than the ones on the baseball team…" Josh taunted. He could see that those who were on the basketball team with him snicker to themselves, while those who had not were getting pissed off pretty fast. Josh turned to the basketball guys, "Look, you guys can handle a little running, can't you?"

The basketball guys looked around at each other, nodded their heads in agreement, and started to move to the goal line. This served to anger the non-basketball guys even further, who were not about to let the basketball team show them up yet again. So, in a few minutes, everyone, including Ron, had lined up at the goal line waiting for Josh signal.

Ron wasn't looking forward to this. He had signed up for the baseball team to have some fun and meet a few new friends, not to be manipulated into extra punishment by the likes of Josh Mankey. He was frowning, looking around for Mankey to get the start signal, when he realized with a start that Josh was standing right next to him.

"Ready, Stoppable?" he asked, his voice low enough so that only Ron could hear him.

"Anytime you're ready, Mankey," Ron spat back with an equally low voice. 

"Just try not to bump into me, buffoon."

Josh just got lucky. He had no way to know that by calling Ron a buffoon that he'd end up pushing one of Ron's buttons, one that Ron didn't even know he had until just now. Ron Stoppable had gone on many missions with Kim as part of Team Possible, faced many dangerous and evil villains bent on world domination, and had been called a buffoon by just about every one of them. But he was not about to take that from a man for whom he had nothing but contempt. 

Ron turned to look Josh in the eye, his passion getting the better of him, when Josh, realizing that he had an opening, yelled out "Go!" The entire team took off in a shot for the five-yard line leaving Ron off balance and already behind. Josh was an outstanding athlete, and his years playing basketball only helped to increase his God given talents, so that he had taken an early lead over the rest of the team. But no amount of athletic skill could match the Mystical Monkey Power that Ron had. He quickly closed the gap between him and Josh and they were the first ones to finish, Ron just ahead of Josh. 

As the rest of the team crossed the goal line, Ron couldn't help but feel good for beating Josh, despite the boy's cheating. But Ron also felt guilty. Master Sensei had warned Ron that while he had great power, it was only to be used in the pursuit of justice. And Ron doubted that beating Josh Mankey in a running contest qualified as the pursuit of justice. 

Ron looked over at Josh, who was none the worse for wear. Josh, however, was clearly not pleased that he was shown up by Ron and he let his displeasure show on his face. _"Man, if looks could kill,"_ Ron chucked to himself. _"Well, at least that's over with."_ Unfortunately for Ron, things were just starting.

Once he was sure that he could get everyone's attention, Josh addressed the team. "All right, that was great. Now, everyone who finished in the last half of the group sit out. The rest of you, line up for another run."

This was meet with yet another chorus of groans from the players. "Give it a rest, Josh. At this rate, none of us will have any energy for practice," Ron complained. 

"Well, Stoppable, the name of the game is 'King of the Hill'. But, I guess you just don't have what it takes to be the best," Josh teased. He could see that Ron was getting angry again, and decided to press it a bit further. "I'm just surprised that Kim would settle for a quitter like you."

Well, there would have been less shock amongst the players had Zeus himself landed one of his thunderbolts right there in the middle of the football field rather than hearing what Josh had said. He just stood there casually, looking intently at Ron with a smug look, knowing that he had hit the other man's sorest spot. Ron, despite his recent successes in the social arena, was still somewhat insecure when it came to his relationship with Kim.

Ron, however, just stood there for a moment. At first, he wasn't sure that he had heard Josh correctly. His brain was just a tad slow in processing what he had heard because he couldn't believe Josh would cross a line like that in front of the entire team. But as the seconds ticked by, the truth of the situation hit home and Ron began to find new levels of hate that he never knew he had. 

He took a step toward Josh, intending to remove that sanctimonious grin from his face permanently, when one of his fellow teammates placed a hand lightly on Ron's shoulder. Ron turned to see Dave, a fellow non-basketball guy, looking at him cautiously. "Ron," he whispered, "he's not worth it." Ron blinked. It was just enough to let reason get back its control on Ron, and he rethought his decision to give Josh a piece of his mind and fist. 

But it wasn't enough to completely lift the fog of rage that settled over Ron's brain. Josh had gone too far by bringing Kim into this little battle of wills, and Ron was not about to let that arrogant prima donna get away with it. Ron calmly walked over to him, stood a mere few inches from Josh, and said in a mockingly calm voice, "Anytime you're ready, Mankey. Just try not to feel too bad when I smoke your sorry butt again." And with that, Ron turned and headed for the goal line.

Josh was also beginning to find new levels of anger as he watched Ron and the rest of the guys who had finished in the top half begin to get in place for the next run. He stood where he was, stewing in his own juices, until he noticed that the runners were now on the goal line watching him. Josh ran over to take his place in line and started the next sprint.

This continued for several more heats until it had gotten down to just Josh and Ron. The two enemies looked like they had just gone fifteen with a prizefighter and secretly none of them wanted this to continue. Josh was a superior athlete but even his teenage body could take so much and the excessive running was taking its toll. Ron, staying true to his promise to Master Sensei, had refused to use his powers again but, powers or not, Ron had gotten himself into excellent shape and was able to keep up with Josh. Unfortunately, without using Mystical Monkey Power, Ron was also succumbing to the effects of the continuous sprinting. 

So, the two of them now found themselves standing there, red faced and sucking wind, their eyes shooting daggers at each other. Each of them silently prayed that the other would cave and end this, all the while vowing that they would not be the one to lose this contest. By now, Josh's little game had also deepened the rift between the basketball guys and the non-basketball guys so that the two groups were standing far apart and rooting for their champion: basketball guys for Josh and non-basketball guys for Ron. 

"Alright…Stoppable…let's get…this…over with. I'm…gonna...show…you…how a… winner does it," Josh tried to sound superior but failed as he couldn't get more than three words out at a time while gasping for breath.

"Whenever…you're ready…Monkey," came the beleaguered reply from Ron.

"On the…count of…three. One…Two…" But that's as far as Josh got.

"What the hell is going on here?"

Coach Powell came running up to the team, his face contorted with fury. "Mankey! Why isn't the team up at the baseball field? I thought I told you to take them through warm-ups, not Marine Corps basic training! Just what the hell did you think you were doing?" coach demanded.

Suddenly, the smug arrogance was gone from Josh only to be replaced with fear and doubt. He knew that Coach Hill had more sway and power than Coach Powell did, but that didn't mean Coach Hill could stop Coach Powell from making Josh's life a living hell for the rest of the season. Plus, he also knew that Coach Hill would be pretty upset if he found out what was going on here. Almost as upset as Coach Powell was right now.

Ron could see Josh hesitate in answering coach. The other boy was wearing a 'deer-caught-in-the-headlights' look that Ron had never seen on Josh. Part of him rejoiced at the fact that Mankey was about to get it, and in front of all his basketball buddies no less. But the better part of him knew that, although it had been Josh's idea, they had all gone along with it, including Ron, and that it wasn't fair that Josh take the fall alone. Already regretting what he was about to do, Ron stepped forward. 

"Coach, we finished our workout and you hadn't come back yet so we decided to put in a little extra work," Ron flashed his goofy grin at the man. "You know, the team feels that maybe we are going a little soft so we decided to work a little harder today. No pain, no gain."

Coach Powell had been an educator and a coach for over 22 years and he could tell when he was being given a snow job. What he couldn't figure out was why Ron was coming to the defense of Josh. He knew the gossip and the rumors just like everyone else, which was a major reason he didn't want Josh on the team in the first place. He looked at Ron, who had never lost his goofy grin, then back to Josh, who looked like the cat who swallowed the canary. Still very skeptical about what was going on, he decided that, on the surface, Ron's story checked out. He didn't believe a word of it, but he'd let it go. This time. 

"A little extra work, huh? Well, good, I'm glad to hear it Stoppable. If you guys are so pumped to work extra hard today, then why don't we just extend practice by an hour? Meet me on the baseball field in five." Coach Powell, despite his generosity in this matter, wasn't about to let what happened go by completely unnoticed. 

The rest of the squad, not daring to say one word, simply hung their heads and started off towards the baseball field. The basketball guys were completely convinced that this was all the fault of Ron, and became even more bitter towards him and the non-basketball guys, who, for their part, blamed Josh just as much, although they weren't too happy with Ron for coming to Josh's aid. 

After a minute or two, Ron and Josh found themselves alone on the football field. They had taken the worst of it because they were the only ones who had lasted until the final heat. They had just started to catch their breath and began walking towards the rest of the team when Josh came right up to Ron.

"You got off lucky this time, Stoppable. Coach Powell saved you from getting you butt handed to you back there. Next time, he won't be there to help you." Josh hissed at Ron while tapping a finger into Ron's chest. With that, Josh turned and began jogging away.

Ron couldn't believe this guy. He had just gone out on a limb with his friends on the team to save Josh's rear and this was the thanks that he got? _"But, am I really all that surprised?"_ Ron thought bitterly. _"Next time, I'll definitely rethink my decision."_

"You're welcome!" Ron yelled at Josh's back and began to jog towards the baseball field as well. He made sure that he kept a few steps behind Josh so that they wouldn't get into another confrontation. This made Ron the last one to get to the field, just in time to hear Coach Powell's instructions.

First up was batting practice. He sent all the outfielders into the outfield to shag fly balls while the players took turns at bat. When one player was done batting, he would then take over the pitching duties for the next batter. Coach Powell needed to work with the pitchers, so he left the rest of the team alone, trusting in them not to kill each other after today's earlier incident. 

Ron went over to the bench and retrieved his glove. He was heading to the outfield when he noticed Josh doing the same thing. _"Great," _Ron thought, "_It's not enough that he's on the team. He's also trying to take my position as well."_

After a while, it was beginning to look like things were returning to normal. Ron was content to stay on the other side of the field away from Josh. Since everyone was exhausted from the additional running, no one really had the energy to get the ball out of the infield. Which suited Ron just fine, as it gave him an opportunity to rest. Before he knew it, he was the only one who had yet to take a turn at the plate. 

He was jogging towards the infield when he realized that Josh was the last person to bat. That meant that Josh would be pitching to Ron, which caused no small amount of anxiety in the teenager. But, he couldn't refuse to take batting practice, nor would he give Josh the satisfaction of letting him know that Ron was a little worried.

Ron flipped his glove towards the bench and retrieved his bat. Settling into the batter's box, he looked at Josh for the first time since the boy had tapped Ron's chest. What he saw gave him reason enough to back out and sent a chill down his spine. Josh had a Cheshire-cat grin on and you could plainly see the malevolence in his eyes. Ron swallowed, and prepared himself for whatever Josh had planning. 

But Josh didn't do anything, at least not a first. His first pitch was the proper speed and over the middle of the plate. Ron was expecting something else so much that he just watched the pitch sail by, which caused the other infielders to simply roll their eyes. He chuckled to himself and began to relax. 

The next few pitches were just as harmless and Ron began to get into the 'swing' of things, as it were. _"I guess he's not going to try anything after all," _Ron thought to himself as he began to relax. But then the next pitch that Josh threw was a little more inside than the last one, and so was the next one, and the one after that. They were still well within the acceptable location for batting practice, but Josh was getting close to the edges. 

Ron was beginning to get just a tad bit nervous when Josh unleashed a fastball, high and tight. Ron's instincts kicked in and he was able to dodge the pitch, but only by hitting the dirt. He got up, dusted himself off, and looked at Josh with murder in his eyes. 

Josh, however, just had on a smile. He shrugged his shoulders and mockingly apologized, "Sorry, I guess that last on got away from me!" But his eyes gave him away, and Ron could see the fire that was burning behind them. _"So much for Josh learning his lesson," _Ron though. 

Josh continued to let his pitches 'slip' and Ron was diving for the deck again. Ron was once again turning a nice shade of red when he decided he was going to have a little fun with Mr. Mankey. Forgetting his promise to Master Sensei, Ron tapped into his power and vowed that he was not going to fall to the ground again. 

He got back into the batter's box and looked back at Josh. This time, it was Ron who was sporting a grin and it was Josh who was put off guard. But it passed in a moment, and Josh smiled back, taunting Ron. Josh reared back and threw yet another fastball right at Ron's head.

This time, Ron was ready for it. With blinding swiftness, he stepped out of the way of the speeding ball and with aim that would have been impossible for any average person, Ron connected with the pitch and sent it flying right back at Josh. Josh wasn't expecting this and had to dive out of the way to avoid being hit. 

"Just what do you think you're doing Stoppable?" Josh yelled as he got up. "That almost hit me!"

"It was no closer than anyone of your pitches!" Ron shot back. 

"What are you implying, Stoppable?"

"I think you know exactly what I'm implying, Mankey!"

"You think I was throwing at you intentionally? You're out of your mind!"

"Right…" Ron had switched from angry to sarcastic. "What was I thinking? I mean, there's no way you have enough skill to hit the broad side of a barn let alone my head!"

"Fine, I'll show you just how much skill I've got!" 

By this time, the entire team, except the pitchers, had all come running into the infield and encircled the two of them. No one said anything, and no one moved to stop them. It was as if they were watching a car wreck; it was horrible to watch but you couldn't help but stare at it transfixed. Which is why they didn't do anything when Josh picked up another baseball and threw it at Ron. Ron was able to dodge it, but reason once again left him as the frustration of the entire day came crashing down on him. His face twisted into a snarl as he tightened his grip on his bat, bringing it back over his shoulder and stepping toward Josh. 

Reason had also left Josh, otherwise he would have thought twice about taking on Ron right then. But, he had no intention of backing down and, despite the fact that Ron had a bat, he also started toward him. 

Fortunately for both of them, the sight of Ron heading toward Josh with a bat was enough to snap the rest of the team back to their senses. They rushed in and quickly separated the two hotheads before they did something that they would really regret.  Unfortunately for them, the commotion had attracted the attention of Coach Powell.

"Mankey! Stoppable! Didn't the two of you learn your lesson after what happened earlier today? You are supposed to be teammates who help each other not enemies who are at each other's throats! I want you to both hit the showers, right now, and Stoppable, I want to see you in my office in twenty!" And he just stood there to make sure they got the message. 

Ron and Josh looked at each other then back to Coach Powell. They both knew that this was not the time to argue with the man and so they simply went and collected their gear. They walked back to the locker room without a word and without looking at each other, but at least they were walking together. 

When they got back to the gym, they silently took their showers and changed. It was so quiet between the two of them that you could have heard a pin drop. Not that there wasn't anything to say; Ron could've spoke volumes about just how he felt about Josh right then, but neither wanted to get into any more trouble than they already were. 

Ron had just finished changing when he could hear the rest of the team filing in to the locker room. He guessed that practice had ended, and he suddenly realized that he had a knot in the pit of his stomach at the thought of the conservation that he was about to have. 

Coach Powell walked in, took one look at Ron, and said "Stoppable, my office, now." Ron felt himself go cold, but followed the coach into his office as instructed. Coach Powell shut the door behind him and motioned for Ron to sit in the chair opposite his desk. Ron flopped himself down into the chair with a sigh and began to debate with himself if he should just cut the coach off and apologize before he got started.

Ron was snapped out of his thoughts when the coach took his seat behind his desk and looked at the teenager. Ron was preparing for the worst and began wondering just what he was going to tell Kim and his parents when the coach threw him off the team when Coach Powell smiled. "Good Lord, Ron, just what I am supposed to do with you?"

"Wha…?" Ron was now completely confused. He had expected to have his butt chewed off not have a civil conservation with the coach.

"Look, Ron, I think I can trust you to keep our conservation here private?" Ron nodded his agreement. "Good. I can see that you're not too fond of the latest member of our team. Neither am I."

Ron was shocked that the coach was being so open with him. It was universally accepted that Coach Powell was none too happy with the situation, but no one had ever heard him complain about it, publicly or privately and Ron let his shock show plainly on his face. 

The coach chuckled. "Don't look so surprised. I imagine that the only person in this school who is more unhappy at Mr. Mankey is you. "

"That's an understatement," Ron grumbled. He was beginning to relax and the hope that he wasn't in any real trouble began to creep back into him.

"Yes, well, while we are in agreement with our dislike of him, where we differ is that I have a healthy dose of trepidation when I am around him." Ron became even more confused. _"Could the coach actually be afraid of Josh?" _Ron thought.

Coach Powell smiled at Ron as if he had been reading his mind. "No, Ron, I am not afraid of the likes of Josh Mankey. But, look, Ron, in Middleton, basketball is almost a religion and Josh is the first person in a few years to get a scholarship to a big name university for basketball. The people in this town practically worship the boy, and some of them would be willing to do just about anything for him. Do you understand what I'm telling you?"

Ron wasn't exactly sure what the coach was trying to tell him but he nodded anyway. "Just look at how he got on this team. I mean, do you really think I'd let someone on the team without trying out? All I'm saying Ron is that discretion is the better part of valor. Try to remember that the next time Josh opens his mouth."

The coach looked at Ron for a minute to make sure that Ron had gotten the message and when he was satisfied that Ron had understood all that he was going to, the coach got up. Taking his cue, Ron stood up as well and watched Coach Powell come out from behind his desk. He put his arm around Ron's shoulder and guided him to the office door. "Alright, I've kept you long enough. Now, why don't you go find your girlfriend, have some fun tonight, and forget all about today." Coach Powell smiled at Ron and opened the door. 

Ron smiled back at the coach, said goodnight, and left his office. He waited until the coach had closed the door and he was back to his locker before Ron heaved a huge sigh of relief. Ron leaned his back against his locker and slowly slid to the ground, with his head between his knees. He just sat there in the semi-darkness, thankful that he was alone. 

As he contemplated the day, he wasn't very happy with himself. He had broken his promise to Master Sensei not once but twice. He had let Josh get the better of him and had nearly come to blows. He came this close to being kicked off the baseball team. 

Ron sat there for a while, feeling a little sorry for himself, when he was brought out of his thoughts by a beep from his watch. He looked down at it and realized with a start that it  was already 6:15! He was supposed to meet Kim fifteen minutes ago. He shot up, grabbed his jacket and keys, and ran to catch Kim in the front of the school. If she was still there.

***

Rufus could sense that something was wrong. He looked from his owner, who was currently driving, to Kim, who was in the passenger seat. Neither one of them had said a word the entire time since Ron had picked Rufus up from home. He was beginning to worry about the two of them because he had no idea what had happened at school that day to cause the two of them to fight. You see, Rufus no longer went with Ron to school; he went to his 'job'. 

During one of Team Possible's missions last year, one of the grateful scientists, a psychologist named Dr. Syman, had noticed that Rufus was more intelligent than the other naked mole rats that he had come across. A lot more intelligent. So, Ron, Rufus, and Dr. Syman came up with an agreement that Rufus would spend each weekday in Dr. Syman's psychology lab taking all sorts of non-invasive tests in an attempt to discover just why Rufus was, well, Rufus. Plus, it gave Rufus all the cheese money that he could ever need, something for which his owner was very grateful.

But, genius mole rat nor not, Rufus had missed what had transpired just a little while ago and so he had no idea why his two favorite people in the world were so unhappy. 

Kim had gotten to the front of the school ahead of Ron, but she wasn't surprised. It was 5:45 when she sat down on one of the benches in the school lobby, so she was early. 

She didn't mind being early; it gave her a chance to daydream about the rest of the night. _"Probably hit Bueno Nacho for dinner, then maybe catch that new romantic comedy with Hugh Grant…"_ she thought, lost in her own world. _"That's gonna take some convincing to get Ron to agree to it. He'll probably suggest we see the new shoot-em-up with Lawrence Fishbourne in it. Yuck. Oh, well, it doesn't matter. Since we started dating, I haven't lost an argument yet. Now that I can use other weapons in my bag of tricks besides my puppy dog pout." _This brought a smile to her lips and she could feel the tension of the day beginning to slip away as she realized that it was 6 o'clock and he'd be there any minute.

But as she sat there watching the clock in the lobby, there was no Ron in sight. She figured he might be a few minutes late, and since this was Ron, he had probably tripped himself up somewhere and was trying to untangle himself. Yet as the minutes ticked by, he was still nowhere to be seen.

6:05 _"Oh, well, its only five minutes," _Kim thought, _"it's not the end of the world."_

6:10 _"Hmmm. I'm starving. Where are you Ron?"_

6:15 _"How can he be so inconsiderate? He was supposed to be here 15 minutes ago!"_

Kim was quickly becoming angry with her new boyfriend when he came running into the lobby. "Oh, God, KP, I'm so sorry. There was a problem at practice and…" Ron stopped when he realized that she was quite mad at him. "Ah, KP, is everything alright?"

"No, and let me tell you why it's not." Kim said in a forced calm tone. Ron could sense the barely contained anger beneath her exterior and knew that he was going to get it for being late. "I have had one of the most horrible days that I can remember at school. Between homeroom and Bonnie and Barkin, I was counting on the fact that at least my boyfriend would be kind enough to make my day a little easier. Not be late by over fifteen minutes without so much as a call on the cell phone to tell me what's going on. By the way, you never did apologize for making us late this morning."

That last little bit had caused Ron to go from anxious about being late to completely confused. "Ah, Kim, we were late this morning because of the late night last night. I guess we were both a little slow getting going this morning…"

The look on Kim's face said it all. _"Oh, no, she's not listening to me. This is gonna get ugly real fast," _Ron thought.

"All I know, Ron, is that you were late picking me up this morning and now you're late picking me up this evening. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm important to you anymore." Kim knew the second that she had said it that she didn't mean it, but it was too late to take it back. 

For his part, Ron looked like someone had hit him in the gut. He took a deep breath and swallowed hard. "Kim, that was completely uncalled for," he replied as evenly as he could. He was hurt and a little angry by what she had said. But Kim's a proud individual and instead of apologizing, she decided that it was best to end the argument without a conclusion.

"Whatever, Ron. Can we please get going now? I'm starving and we still need to pick up Rufus." She turned towards his car, leaving a very confused and hurt Ron standing there.

Rufus, unfortunately, had missed all this so he was at a loss as to what was going on. He knew that there was a problem; he just didn't know how to fix it yet. While he was lost in thought, the three of them had managed to make their way to the Bueno Nacho parking lot. Ron picked up Rufus and put him in his pocket. Then the young couple, neither of them looking at the other, silently got out of Ron's car and began to make their way inside the Mexican restaurant. 

From his vantage point in Ron's pocket, Rufus was beginning to put the Ron and Kim problem on the back burner when he spied a small flower stand parked in front of Bueno Nacho. The light bulb when off in the little guy's head, and he quickly scrambled up Ron's leg to tell him what to do. Ron, who had become used to Rufus climbing up and down his leg over the years, paid him no heed until he felt Rufus tugging on his ear. 

"What is it, Rufus?" Ron asked with a mixture of exhaustion and annoyance. Rufus began to excitedly gesture at the flower stand and Ron stopped. 

"Ho, apologize!" Rufus whispered in Ron's ear. By this time, Ron had stopped walking even though Kim had continued on. 

"But it's not my fault!" Ron whispered back to his friend. 

Rufus shook his head, pointed again at the flower stand, and said," Doesn't matter. Apologize."

Ron looked from Rufus to the flower stand to Kim and then back to Rufus. And he knew that Rufus was right. It had been partially his fault that they were late this morning and this evening, and besides, didn't the 'rules' say that it was the guy's job to apologize first?

"OK, OK, I'll apologize," he told Rufus. "Kim, I'll be right there. Order me the usual," he cried out to his girlfriend. She didn't turn around to look at him; all he got in return was a wave of her hand.

As soon as she was inside Bueno Nacho, Ron ran over to the flower stand. It was manned by a single elderly woman who smiled at him when he came running up. "In trouble with the Mrs.?" She asked Ron in a knowing voice.

Ron rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Yeah, you could say that. Rough day at school for the both of us. I just need to tell her that I'm sorry and how much see means to me." 

"Ah. Flowers are an excellent way to tell a woman all sorts of things. Just what was it that you were looking for?"

Ron pulled out his wallet to see just what kind of an apology he could afford. He looked down and realized with a start that he only had $15 on him. He had meant to hit the ATM before school had started, but as they were running late, he didn't have an opportunity to do so. 

Ron sighed as his heart grew heavy. There was no way that he could afford the flowers and dinner tonight. He was just about to tell the kind lady that when she realized his predicament. "I think I have just the thing for you, my young friend." She went into the back of the cart and pulled out a single red rose with a while ribbon tied around it. "Here. That will convey everything you are feeling to her with you having to say a single word," she said as she gave the rose to Ron. 

Ron took it from her and admired it for its simple yet timeless beauty. _"Just like Kim,"_ he thought. He asked the lady how much and she responded by saying that it would only cost him a dollar. 

"Oh, no, it can't possibly be that little. Please, how much is it really?" he insisted.

But the old lady wouldn't budge, saying that watching the two of them make up would be more than enough payment. Ron realized that he wasn't going to win this argument either, so he handed her a dollar bill and thanked her for all her help.

"Anytime, my young friend. Just you make sure that your lady is as happy as she can be," she smiled at him.

Ron smiled back. Looking down at the rose in his hand, he was beginning to feel better about the rest of the night. He turned from the flower cart and headed over towards Bueno Nacho. 

When he entered the restaurant, Kim was just getting off the line, holding a tray with their dinner. She hadn't noticed him yet and was walking over to their usual booth when Ron caught up with her. He stood right in front of her, with the single rose in his hand, and put on his best imitation of the puppy dog pout. "Kim," he said, low and soft, "I'm really sorry about today."

Kim, who had already begun to feel guilty about how she had treated Ron, instantly felt the ice that was surrounding her heart melt. She felt sad and guilty about her actions and words, but also felt a sweeping warmth come over her at the sight of her apologetic boyfriend. 

"Oh, Ron…" she sighed in an almost whisper. She was smiling now, but her eyes betrayed the sadness that she was feeling. 

"Shhh." Ron took the tray out of her hands and put it on the table next to them, along with the rose. He pulled her close in a tight but gentle embrace, and there they stood, simply enjoying the feeling of being close to each other.  After a time, they pulled away from each other a little and Ron kissed her softly, placing his forehead on hers. 

Kim had forgotten all about the horrible day and was simply content to stare into Ron's chocolate eyes. She was losing herself in them when, before she realized what she was doing, whispered to him, "Ron, I love you."

Ron never moved but the surprise was evident in his eyes. They had not said those three little words to each other yet, despite the fact that both of them felt that way. For a moment, she was worried that she had taken things too fast, that she was going to scare him. But her fears were abated when he looked at her, his smile even wider, and told her, "I love you too, Kimmie."

The young couple, the problems of the day forgotten, stood there for a moment in each others arms until they realized that the entire restaurant was looking at them. They quickly separated and Ron suggested that they start eating otherwise they were going to miss the movie.

The rest of their meal passed by without incident. In fact, except for the fact that they were occasionally feeding each other, it was just like old times. They complained to each other about what was, for both of them, the worst day in high school. They joked around, and Kim listened about Ron' latest video game while Ron listened about Kim's latest fashion find. By the time dinner was over, the two of them were back to their old selves.

They were just about to head to the movie when the Kimmunicator beeped in. Kim silently retrieved it from her backpack and hit the button that brought Wade up on the screen. "Hey, Wade, what's the 'sitch?" Kim sighed to her genius partner. Between the late night last night and her day at school, she was not looking forward to another mission anytime soon.

"There's a break-in in progress at one of Middleton's research firms. The silent alarm was tripped about five minutes ago," the ten-year-old super genius informed them. 

Kim just looked at him for a moment. "Ah, Wade, is there anyway that the local police can handle this? I mean, after Peru and all yesterday…" Kim was not looking forward to having two dates in a row ruined by a mission.

"Sorry, Kim," Wade replied. "The work that they're doing at the research firm is top secret. Some sort of military application. The local cops aren't cleared for this sort of thing, that's why they contacted you. And the military will never make it in time. What should I tell them?"

Kim looked up from the Kimmunicator at Ron, who simply shrugged. _"Looks like it's my call, "_ Kim thought. She sighed and resigned herself to the fact that yet another night with Ron was shot. "Alright, Wade, where is the break-in taking place?"

"At the Photonic Imaging and Concealment Lab. Your ride should be landing in front of Bueno Nacho in a few minutes."

"Thanks, Wade." She started to cancel the call from Wade and head for the door when a though occurred to her. "Hey, Wade? What exactly do they do at this imaging lab?"

"Holographics."


	4. Chapter 3: Mirage

Note: Please see the Foreword for updated Author's Notes

_Chapter 3: Mirage_

True to his word, the ride that Wade had secured landed in front of Bueno Nacho a short time after he finished speaking to Kim. It turned out that a Global Justice jet was in the area and, given the close relationship between them and the military, it was simply a matter of a quick phone call to reroute the jet to Kim and Ron's location. It hovered briefly in midair over the parking lot (_"And a little close to my car,"_ Ron thought) before making its landing.

The pilot lowered the entrance ramp to allow the two members of Team Possible to board the jet. Ron always felt a secret thrill whenever they boarded some jet or helicopter that would whisk them away to the mission at hand. He looked around at the bystanders who were gazing at the sleek, black jet and Ron imagined that they were wondering just who was so important that they rated a jet. For just a brief snippet of time, it made Ron feel like a movie star.

But the moment quickly passed as he and Kim ran up into the waiting jet. Kim went forward to check in with the pilot and confirm the location of the research lab while Ron settled into one of the seats in the rear of the jet in preparation for take-off. She was back a few seconds later and, taking the seat next to Ron, felt the jet begin to rise. 

Once the pilot had leveled off the jet and began their approach towards the research firm, Kim got up and began to head towards the rear of the plane. "We should be there in a few minutes, Ron, so I'm going to get changed into my mission gear. I suggest you do the same," Kim told her partner while slipping into business mode. They really had become partners in their little crime-fighting venture, but Kim still had more operational experience than Ron and he was content to simply follow her lead most of the time. 

Ron heeded her advice and as soon as Kim had disappeared into the back of the plane, he grabbed his backpack and silently changed. A few minutes later, Kim reappeared dressed in her standard black turtleneck and green cargo pants. Ron was dressed similarly, although his cargos were gray. 

The redhead sat down next to Ron and pulled out the Kimmunicator from her pocket. "Do we have any intel from the scene?" Ron asked her.

"I'm having Wade send everything he's got up to us right now." Then, pressing the button to complete the link to her tech guy, Kim switched her attention from Ron to the small screen. "Wade, we're in route and geared up. Now, what can you tell us about what's going on down there?"

Wade began typing on his computer as he brought up all the information that he had. "Unfortunately, not much. The research facility has the tightest security system that I've ever seen. I have a feed from the security cameras and the location of where the silent alarm was tripped, but that's about it. And I only have that because the military is granting me access to it."

"Alright, then, let's start by patching the security feed up to us."

The image of Wade on the Kimmunicator was replaced by a black and white but very clear picture of what appeared to be a generic lobby in an office building. "Let's start cycling through the various shots that the military is giving us access to. Maybe we can catch something," Kim told Wade.

The images on the screen began to change every few seconds as Wade gave Kim and Ron a view of all the areas that they had access. But neither the two heroes in the field nor the super genius back at home could spot anything amiss with what they were being shown.

"Well, that was a waste of time," Ron complained from his vantage point of looking over Kim's shoulder. They were watching the images cycle through for a second time when an idea struck Ron. "Hey, Wade, you said that you only had access to the security cameras because the military was giving you access to them. Are there any cameras that the military isn't giving you access to?"

Wade's image appeared once again on the Kimmunicator. "Good idea, Ron. Let me see…" he responded as he began to type furiously on his keyboard. "Ah, yes, there is an entire section of the research lab that I don't have the feed from. And in that section, there is a block of labs that have no security cameras in them at all."

"So, based on where the silent alarm was tripped, can you extrapolate where the intruders were headed? Like toward that section of the complex?" Kim asked.

Wade shook his head. "Sorry, Kim, but with only one reference point it's impossible to tell where they were headed. But," Wade continued while bringing up a map of the entire facility on the Kimmunicator screen, "the alarm is located in the same wing as the restricted areas." 

On the screen, Kim and Ron could see the outline of all the areas of the complex, with the northern wing enhanced. The restricted area of labs was drawn in grey, instead of the white that defined the rest of the complex. On the map, perhaps a hundred yards from the gray zone Kim estimated, was a single red dot where the alarm was tripped.

"That's awfully close to the gray area, Kim," Ron said to his partner. "I'd bet you anything that whatever it is that the intruders came for, it's in there."

"I wouldn't doubt it," Kim replied. Then, turning her attention once again to Wade, she asked him, "What information do you have on that area of the lab?"

"Sorry guys, no luck there either. The military didn't release that information to me." Kim gave him one of her 'are-you-kidding' looks while Ron simply rolled his eyes. 

"Come on, Wade, they must have given you something to work with! KP and I usually get a little bit more to work with than this, like the enemy's location, their size, their target. I mean, just what do they expect us to do, go in blind into a dangerous situation?" 

Kim couldn't suppress the smile that crept onto her lips. _"Since when does Ron care this much about operational details?" _she thought. _"I guess he's taking this whole 'no-longer-a-sidekick-but-a-partner' thing seriously."_

But while Kim was amused, Wade was sweating. He knew that the military hadn't given him a lot to work with but his job as part of Team Possible was to get answers to his friends in the field, and he was failing at it on this mission. "Sorry, Ron. All they gave me was the partial security camera feed, the layout of the building, a roster of the personnel..." The boy genius suddenly stopped, lost in thought. "I've got an idea, hold on a sec," he told them and began to type away on his computer.

Kim and Ron just stared at the tiny screen on the Kimmunicator watching Wade work his magic. After a minute or two, he turned away from his computer screen with a smile on his face. "I've got something. I was able to cross-reference the list of personnel with the building's layout. I matched every scientist to a lab in the building except a Dr. Marcus Fedor, so it's pretty likely that it's his lab in the gray zone." Wade's image was replaced by a short bio and recent picture of the doctor.

"Alright, that's a start," Ron replied. "What do we know about this Dr. Fedor?"

It took a second as Wade pulled up the information before he responded, "Dr. Fedor specializes in holographics, which shouldn't comes as a surprise. He earned two Ph.D.'s from M.I.T. for optics and theoretical physics and has published numerous articles in his field starting as far back as the 70's. He was considered the top mind in the country in optics."

"Was?" Kim asked him with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, about two years ago he was on the cutting edge in his field giving lectures and writing articles and then, all of a sudden, it was like he fell of the face of the planet. Not that he disappeared, but he signed a contract to work at the Photonic Imaging and Concealment Lab. After that, all lectures stopped and he hasn't published since."

"So, we have no idea what he's working on, do we, Wade?" Kim asked.

"Sorry, all it says in the personnel roster is that his area of specialty is optics, but I could have gotten that off the web."

"Then, for all we know, it could be a weapons lab down there. Great." Ron liked it much better when the bad guys went after something incredibly valuable instead of something incredibly dangerous.

"Doubt it. They specialize in holographics, Ron, remember? I don't think a conjured up image can do much harm to anybody," Kim said, trying to allay Ron's fears.

It seemed to do the trick. Ron was suddenly reminded of his first run in with Lord Monkey Fist. He had gone to the Fisk castle to question the villain with what he thought was Kim. It turned out to be Wade's now-defunct holo-Kim and he remembered that it wasn't able to harm so much as a single simian hair on Monkey Fist, leaving poor Ron to do all the fighting. _"But, I did come out of it with Mystical Monkey Power," _he thought, _"so it wasn't all bad."_

He was still not entirely convinced, but the smile that had formed on his face at the memory of his infusion with the simian power caused Kim to draw the wrong conclusion and think that her partner was settled on the idea that it was not a weapons lab. Yet Kim couldn't help wondering what could be so enticing to a criminal in a heavily guarded holographics lab? Maybe it was just the fact that it was military had caught their attention and that was why they were after it, whatever it was.

"Well, thanks, Wade," Kim said to her friend, concluding that that was all the intel that they were going to get before landing on-site, "we'll let you know if we need anything else." And with that, she turned off the Kimmunicator and put it into one of the pockets in her cargo pants. 

Ron moved out from behind her to the seat next to Kim. "Well, what do you think?" he asked her.

"Tough to say. The military really did give us very little to work with."

Ron shook his head. "Kim, I'm still not sure about this. I mean, what if the whole thing is just a cover for something more deadly that the military just wants to keep hidden? We could be walking into some serious trouble down there, and not just from the bad guys."

Kim contemplated this for a second before replying, "No, I don't think so. It's not like Dr. Fedor doesn't actually do optics instead of something else. He was in that field for a while before doing military work. What I can't figure out is, what could they possibly want from a holographics lab?"

Ron wasn't about to let the issue drop and was about to saying something in response when the pilot cut in. "Ms. Possible, we're approaching the landing site. E.T.A is one minute."

This ended all discussion on the topic as they got ready to disembark. "So, KP, do we repel down ropes out of the jet or just a simple parachute jump?" he asked his girlfriend casually. Not that he was looking forward to either of these options; Ron, for all his training, was still not comfortable with heights.

In response, Kim simply smiled at him. "Nope, I've got something better in mind."

_"Oh, great," _Ron thought, his anxiety showing for the first time, _"what could she possibly have planned instead of those two wonderful options. Rocket boards that we ride all the way down? Although that would be pretty cool…"_

Kim, who knew Ron better than anyone else, knew exactly what was going through his mind right then and flashed him another enigmatic smile as she gathered up her gear. He just kept looking at her with an expectant look, but she stayed silent. "Well…" he tried to coax it out of her.

"Oh, didn't I mention?" she said in her most innocent voice. "The pilot is landing on the ground. We're walking out."

It took Ron, who had run through ever conceivable terrifying way of exiting this plane, a second to process what she had told him. When he did, he began laughing from a combination of the trick Kim had played on him and his relief at being able to get off the jet in a normal fashion. His laughter was infectious, and in no time Kim was laughing right along with him. 

Meanwhile, the jet had made its final approach to the research lab and the pilot, a seasoned Global Justice veteran of 26 years, found a safe landing spot in the parking lot in front of the building. He brought the jet right over the spot he had picked out and switched the jet to hover mode, much like the Harrier jets that the Marines use. With ease that comes only with experience, he expertly guided the jet to the ground, switched off the engines, and lowered the entrance ramp. 

The building that housed the Photonic Imaging and Concealment Lab was fairly non-descript. It was four stories tall in a roughly rectangular shape with beige stucco for an exterior. The windows in the building were tinted to protect the employees from the sun (and prevent anyone from looking in) and the landscaping was modest but neat. In fact, it was possible to think that this was just a regular office building and not a military research lab if it wasn't for the nearly three dozen security cameras that covered every square inch of the parking lot. And when the Global Justice jet landed, there was quite a bit for the cameras to pick up

The main parking lot in front of the building was in a state of high activity. To an observer at the scene, it looked like all of Middleton's police force and half of Lowerton's had responded to the silent alarm. The officers who had responded to the scene, who were simply too numerous to count, were out in full riot gear. No one had bothered to tell the police anything except that someone was breaking into a high security military research facility. That was enough to cause the commanding officer on duty that night, Lt. Daniel Riverez, to take every precaution in this situation.

The Lieutenant was generally considered the best cop on the force in Middleton. He was a veteran of over twenty years, and had risen quickly through the ranks due to his stellar record. He was still young for his position, a few months shy of his fortieth birthday, and had carried the last twenty years well. The only thing he would have changed was his height (he was exactly five foot six inches according to his service jacket), but he was well liked by the rank and file. Many people believed that when the last chief of police was picked that the mayor had made a huge mistake in passing on the Lieutenant.

But the fact that he wasn't chosen as chief was far from the mind of Lt. Riverez at the moment. He was having a heated argument with a man who looked like he was twice the size of the Lieutenant. The eagle, globe, and anchor on his military uniform signaled that the other man was a United States Marine, and the double bars on his collar announced him as a Captain. The Captain was John Millar, the commanding officer of the complex's small security force, and he was trying to explain to the Lieutenant, as calmly as he could, just why he wasn't being allowed into the building. But he was beginning to lose his grip on his temper; the Captain looked like a bulldog on a tight leash, and the leash was slipping.

"Look, Lieutenant, as I have already explained to you, your men simply do not have clearance to enter the building."

"So, we're informed that someone is breaking into a covert military research lab, stealing God knows what, and you want us to just stand around and do nothing?" The Lieutenant demanded to know. 

The captain took a deep breath and counted to ten. He knew that a good relationship between the military and the surrounding civilian population was important, but he wasn't sure just how much more of this he was going to take. "Listen to me and listen good," he said with a slight snarl in his voice, "not even my men can get into the location, it is that highly classified. What makes you think that they would ever let you into such a place?"

"Well then, Captain, what exactly are you planning on doing? Letting them walk out of there? Maybe give them a ride to wherever they need to go? How about a full pardon and a million dollars why we're at it!"

At that moment, the Global Justice jet had appeared on the horizon, as if in response to the Lieutenant's question. Both men forgot their argument for the time being and watched as the jet landed a few hundred yards away in a clear section of the parking lot. Even from their distance from the jet, they could still feel the jet wash.

"You wanted to know what we're going to do?" The Captain yelled over the roar of the jet engines. "Global Justice has sent in a team of specialists to handle the situation. They are highly trained and have the necessary security clearance to be allowed to enter the restricted areas of the lab."

The Lieutenant turned to see just what this cracker-jack team of experts looked like. He heard the engines shut off and gear down, saw the entrance ramp to the jet lower, and was expecting to see a platoon of forty men with many years of special ops experience begin to file out. What he saw instead was a pair of teenagers, who looked like they belonged in a movie theater not a combat zone, falling all over each other with laughter. 

The Captain, despite his earlier anger with the Lieutenant, couldn't help but be amused at the reaction the Lieutenant was having to Team Possible. He could see how someone who hadn't been involved with them before could mistake them for some kind of ridiculous joke, and in fact the Captain had had the same reaction as the Lieutenant was having now the first time he saw the team. 

But Captain Millar knew better now. Before his current assignment, he was a First Lieutenant in charge of a platoon of special ops guys. They had been called in to retrieve a Global Justice spy satellite that had unexpectedly crashed into a remote location in the Libyan desert. The brass over at GJ had insisted that two of their field agents accompany them on the mission, something that then Lieutenant Millar wasn't very happy about, and he was even less happy when he found out that it was two seventeen-year-olds. 

As it turned out, by the time his men had gotten into Libya to get the satellite, the Libyan Defense Ministry had already taken possession of it. There was no way that such a small group of men were going to be able to make a full assault to retrieve it, so Kim and Ron ended up infiltrating the base and securing the satellite. The mission went so well that the entire team was resting on the USS Eisenhower before the Libyans even knew that the satellite was gone and after that, Lieutenant, now Captain, Millar had a healthy dose of respect for the abilities of Team Possible. 

Which is why he knew, despite their appearance, that the two teens who were walking over to them were the pro's who could handle the job. He saw them stop one of the officers at the scene and say something to him, then the officer pointed in the Lieutenant and Captain's direction, and he watched as Kim and Ron crossed the distance between them.

"Kim. Ron," the Captain said as he extended his hand in greeting. 

"Lieutenant Millar, it's been awhile," Kim said with a smile, shaking his hand. Then she pointed at the surrounded building. "So, anything to add that we didn't get in the briefing?"

"It Captain Millar now," he said with a smile while tapping his double bars. "And, unfortunately, no, I don't have anything to add. I've been given strict orders not to enter the restricted zone under any circumstances and to wait for your arrival. Me and my men are at you disposal."

Up until this time, Lieutenant Riverez hadn't said a word, having been shocked into silence by the sight of the two teens. But upon hearing that a Marine Captain was placing his men under the control of these two _children_ was just too much. "Excuse me, but we're just supposed to let these two go in there? What happened to your special Global Justice team? This can't be it."

Kim and Ron turned to face the Lieutenant. Ron simply looked pissed off by the comment while Kim was giving him her 'just-who-the-hell-are-you' look. "Hi. Kim Possible. This is Ron Stoppable. And you are?"

"Someone who would like to know just what is going on."

Kim and Ron just turned from the Lieutenant back to Captain Millar. The Marine explained, "This is Lieutenant Riverez, and he's site commander of the police you see here. Before you guys landed, I was explaining to the Lieutenant why he couldn't go in the building and how we were awaiting your arrival."

"Oh. Sorry, Lieutenant," Kim said pleasantly but a little condescendingly. "Global Justice gave us a call about the 'sitch and so here we are." She smiled, trying to disarm an already bad situation, but failed as the Lieutenant was even angrier than before.

Ron sensed this and quickly stepped in. "Ah, Lieutenant, I'm Ron. Listen, Kim and I are going to need some support so I was wondering if we could talk about how to best utilize your fine men…" He gave Kim a quick wink and began to slowly lead the Lieutenant away from her and Captain Millar. 

"God, what's his problem?" Kim asked Millar as soon as the Lieutenant was out of earshot.

"Well, he's not happy about being shut out and then with GJ sending you two in, he kinda lost it." Kim had experienced every conceivable reaction to Team Possible by local law enforcement, and understood where they were coming from, but that didn't mean she wasn't tired of it.

"Alright, Ron's got that covered. Seriously, now that the Lieutenant's gone, what can you tell me that I don't already know?"

"Only that the good doctor was working on project Mirage. No idea what it does, however. Once the silent alarm is tripped in that area of the building, the entire place is to be evacuated and we're to await further instructions. But, we have determined the best access point into the building for the two of you to enter."

He pulled out a schematic of the entire northern wing. For the next five minutes, he went over with Kim where to enter the complex and the best route to take, and planning contingency scenarios in case something went wrong. Ron was able to calm the Lieutenant down and occupy him with a task before rejoining Kim and Millar.

When they were finished, Millar put the map of the complex away and turned to look at Kim and Ron. "You better get going. By now, they must know that we are putting a plan in place to stop them. And, be careful. I'm still under orders not to enter the lab, even if you guys get into trouble."

Kim couldn't help but think that this was a lot like their little Libyan adventure as she shook Millar's hand. Ron did the same and the two of them began making their way towards the rear of the building.

It took a little searching but they quickly found the location they were looking for. Kim reached into her side pocket and pulled out a gadget that looked like a hair dryer but, on closer inspection, one could tell that it was in fact a grappling gun. The redhead took aim at a spot on the roof where she felt she could get a solid grip and launched the grappling hook, which shot out of sight over the top of the building in a fraction of a second.

Once she saw the rope that was attached to the hook go slack, Kim gave it a few hard tugs to make sure it was secure before motioning to Ron. Taking his cue, he stepped over to her and placed his arms tightly around her neck. She put her arm around his waist, gave him a quick wink, and pressed the recall button on the gun. In one quick, fluid motion, the pair of crime fighters were whisked up the four stories to the roof of the building.

After a graceful landing, the team split up in search of their target, a small ventilation shaft that would lead them into the complex. Ron was able to find it first and he called Kim over to where it was. As Kim was walking over to him, Ron began to inspect the grating that covered the shaft.

"No good, KP," he said to his partner, "It looks like the military spent no expense in safeguarding this facility." He rapped his knuckles on the grate. "Reinforced titanium. We'll never get through it."

"We might not be able to, but I think I know someone who can," Kim pointed to one of the pockets in his pants. 

Ron looked down at his cargo pants and came to the same conclusion that Kim had. He reached into the pocket that she had pointed to and pulled out Rufus. He had been sleeping in the warm, dark spot (his job had really cut into his nap time) and it took the little guy a minute to realize where he was and slip into mission mode.

"Rufus, we need you to open the air shaft so that we can get in," his owner told him.

The naked mole rat gave a quick look at the ventilation shaft then, after snapping off a quick salute to Ron, he scurried down the teenager's leg and onto the rooftop. Given his small size, Rufus was able to shimmy in between the slots in the grate so that he could get inside the shaft. Once there, he was able to unscrew the grate, giving Team Possible access to the building.

Ron reached down and, with one hand, he picked up Rufus, putting him in his familiar pocket and, with the other hand, removed the now loose grate. "Ladies first," he said with a motion indicating to Kim that she should lead the way.

Kim nodded and stepped towards the ventilation shaft. She took a quick look down into its inky abyss and pulled out a flashlight from her backpack, which she turned on and pointed it down into the building. The small, but powerful, beam of light quickly found the shaft bottom and Kim estimated that it was about ten or twelve feet below the rooftop. 

_"Just a tad too far to simply jump down,"_ she thought and grabbed once more for the grappling gun. She took aim at a nearby steam pipe that was running along the roof and fired. The heroine hit her mark and the grappling hook took purchase on the other side of the pipe. Giving a quick tug to make sure that it was in place, she turned her back to the dark hole in the building and bent her knees in preparation for the repel down. 

Ron, who had been watching Kim secure the rope line, took his cue. He placed the grate on the ground and walked over to a point between Kim and the steam pipe. He grabbed hold of the repel line and, looping it around his arms several times, braced himself for Kim's weight and signaled to her that he was ready. She took a small bounce off the edge of the roof and fell silently into the complex. 

Ron had to wait only a moment before her heard her land inside the airshaft. "Ron, I'm in. Your turn," Kim whisper-shouted up to her partner. Ron let go of the rope and positioned himself much like Kim had done earlier and jumped himself, joining her in the air shaft a few seconds later.

"Now which way?" Ron asked her. In response, Kim got down on her hands and knees, pointed further into the ventilation system, and started to crawl forward. The shaft itself was very narrow, giving the teen heroes barely enough room to maneuver in the dark space and forcing them to proceed single file. Kim was in front with the flashlight so she was able to see the incredibly dusty and moldy metal surface that made up the air duct; Ron, however, was completely blind and was forced to keep reaching out for Kim's leg just to make sure he knew where he was going. 

After what seemed like an eternity to Ron, he could begin to make out a light source coming from up ahead. _"This must be the access point that Captain Millar was talking about," _Ron thought with a sigh of relief. He was right and the closer they got to the air vent, the more Ron was able to discern about his surroundings. 

Once they were close enough to the opening to see, Kim turned off her flashlight and pocketed it. She crawled over the grating that covered the opening and, using a bit of contortion that even Ron could've sworn she wasn't capable of doing, turned around to face him, thus giving both of them the opportunity to see what was below them.

Turns out, it wasn't really necessary. When Team Possible looked down from their vantage point, they were treated to a view of what could have been a typical hallway in any building in the world. It had beige walls with generic office artwork on them. It had white linoleum flooring that looked like it needed a serious scrubbing. It had standard brown wooden doors that were spaced the same distance apart. In fact, the only extraordinary thing about it was that it was bathed in twilight, as the main lights were off and the emergency lighting was the only illumination. 

After examining the hallway below for a few moments, Ron looked up at Kim with a raised eyebrow. "KP, are you sure we're in the right place?" he asked her quietly.

"This is exactly the spot on the ventilation schematic that Millar said would put us closest to where the alarm was tripped," she said, but her look told Ron that she wasn't a hundred percent convinced. "Better make sure, though." Kim pulled the Kimmunicator from her pocket and called Wade up on the screen. "Wade, give me an overlay of the location of the alarm and our current position."

The computer genius made a few quick keystrokes and his image was replaced by the same map that the two of them had seen earlier in the jet. Only this time, there was a red dot for the alarm and a blue dot for Team Possible, and they were right on top of each other. "You're right where you need to be, Kim," Wade told her. "Now that you're actually inside the place, I can use the Kimmunicator to gather more data on what's going on."

"Alright, just give us a sec to get down out of this air duct." Kim then tossed the Kimmunicator to Ron and began to unscrew this grate with a new little gizmo that Wade had whipped up. When that was done, she pulled it up into the shaft and set it down behind her. The cheerleader then grabbed the edge of the duct, pulled her knees up to her chest, and thrust her legs out from underneath her and down into the waiting hallway where she landed with the gracefulness of a cat. Ron was not about to be so bold, and after tossing the Kimmunicator back to Kim, he simply lowered himself down the opening, hung by his hands for a moment, and then dropped to the floor below.

As he landed, Ron noticed that Kim was already sweeping the area with the Kimmunicator, feeding Wade all the information that they could gather from the scan. Wade once again went to work and after a little bit, he had good news. "Kim, Ron, the Kimmunicator has detected sounds coming from up ahead. Computer analysis shows that there is a 79% change of the sounds being voices, so that's probably where your thieves are." 

_"Right into the restricted zone," _Kim thought. "Thanks, Wade, we'll keep you up to date." She was just about to kill the line and put the Kimmunicator away when she added, "Oh, and Wade? You rock, as usual," which earned her a smile and thumbs-up from her tech guy before she slipped the small device back in her pocket. 

Kim looked over to her boyfriend whom, she could tell, was mentally gearing up for whatever they were about to run into. "Ready?" she asked him, getting a quick nod in return. "Ok, silent mode from here on out." She then began to make her way down the nondescript hallway into a section of the lab for which they had no information.

They followed the hallway for only a short while before they came upon what they were sure was Dr. Fedor's lab. In front of them were two metal doors that looked like they belonged on an armored car. They were thick (about three inches) and had some of the most sophisticated locking mechanisms that Kim had ever seen. Next to the door was a simple wooden desk that looked like it might have belonged to a receptionist but, upon further inspection, the teens realized it had a secret attachment underneath to hold a shotgun. There were also a bit too many security cameras trained on the doors for it to be simply another lab and the universal radiation warning symbol that was attached to door all but confirmed it for Kim.

But while Kim was more interested in security placed around this lab, Ron was interested in what that security had failed to prevent. It was evident to the hero that a struggle had taken place here. The security cameras, while intact, had their feed lines cut. The desk that was beside the doors looked like someone had simply punched through it to get at the shotgun underneath. And the doors to the lab took the worst beating. One was hanging loosely by a hinge, its once smooth surface now twisted and mangled, while the other door had simply given up and fallen to the floor.

Kim noticed Ron taking his time examining the doors and came over to see what he was looking at. She was giving the door on the ground a once over when something struck her as odd. _"There's no soot on these doors. That means that they weren't blown off their hinges; they were ripped off. But who could do such a thing?"_ This last thought instantly raised her caution level up an extra notch. Yet she couldn't crouch by this door all night wondering who had done it when the thieves were still in the complex, so she rose, and with a motion to Ron to follow, headed off into the lab.

Every lab that Team Possible had entered over the years had fallen into two categories. The first was the classic lab with its rows and rows of beakers and test tubes and chemicals. The other type was the electronics lab, where benches would be covered with computer chips and soldering irons and various electrical equipment. But the lab that they found themselves in now fit into neither category. 

It looked more like a Hollywood sound stage than anything else. With a touch of fun house mirror room thrown in for good measure. The good doctor had every type of lighting source imaginable from spotlights to lasers to good old fashioned incandescent. And he had them in every color that the human eye could discern. But what really caught Kim and Ron's eye was the way in which the light interacted with each other as it was bounced, redirected, and manipulated off the hundreds of specialized mirrors and prisms that were around the lab. _"This would put every rock concert's lighting effects to shame,"_ Ron thought while the two of them simply stood there for a moment. Then he realized that they were not alone.

He quickly moved into a fighting stance in preparation for what was surely to be fight when he noticed that the men who were in the room with him hadn't noticed Team Possible yet. He looked over at Kim, who was noticing their company as well, and motioned for them to get behind one of the workbenches that was in the lab. 

From their hiding place, they were able to get their first look at just who had masterminded the break-in into the holographics lab. They were six to eight men, all over six foot two, all rather muscular, and there was something familiar about the red jumpsuits that they were wearing. But what really caught them off guard was the fact that the men seemed to be memorized by the exotic lighting that filled the lab. 

_"These guys cannot be the brains behind this operation," _Kim thought. _"They have to be the dumbest looking henchmen that I've ever seen. No one uses guys this dumb except…"_ Her eyes widen a touch as she put the pieces together and realized just who it was behind the theft. 

She looked over at Ron, for whom it took a little longer to come to the same conclusion, but when he returned the look, she could see the understanding in his eyes. _"Where are they?"_ she mouthed to Ron. Ron gave her a slight shrug, but then his face brightened and he stuck his index finger in the air to indicate that he had an idea. He reached into his pocket and pulled out Rufus, who went to squeak a question to his owner but was hushed when Ron put a finger to his lips. He brought the naked mole-rat up close to his face and whispered as softly as his could _"Find them."_

Rufus took his cue and scurried off into the lab to gather as much information as he could. It took the smallest member of Team Possible only a few moments to find what he was looking for and he was back relaying what he had found to Ron. He smiled and gave his pet a high five, although without the usual 'boo-yah'. When Kim gave him a quizzical look, he motioned for her to peek over the top of the bench that they were behind. She raised herself as carefully as she could and when she had a clear view of the lab, looked over at Ron who was pointing to something on their right. 

Kim looked and noticed for the first time that a door was set into the wall of the lab. It was a simple gray metal door with a window in it; unfortunately, the drawn blinds obscured the view into the other room. As she trained her focus on the door, she was able to pick up what sounded like voices coming from beyond the door, but was unable to discern any specific words. She was pretty sure she knew whom it was that lay beyond the door but needed to get a closer look just to make sure.

She once again slipped down behind the bench and began crawling towards the door. Ron, who was concentrating hard on the voices coming from the door, finally picked up on what Kim was doing and followed her. In order to get close enough, they were going to have to leave their hiding place behind the bench and expose themselves to the henchmen in the middle of the lab. Kim silently prayed that they would continue to be dazzled by the lights until Team Possible was ready to take them down. 

Their crawling was exposing them for a lot longer than Ron would have liked but he knew that moving any faster would attract unwanted attention. Fortunately, they were able to traverse the ten yards or so over to the door without detection. Once there, Kim positioned herself on the left side of the door so that Ron could position himself on the right side, giving both of them a change to hear what was going on inside. 

Kim was still having a hard time making out specific words and went to put her ear on the door when she realized that the door wasn't actually closed. The door was ajar but had been pushed so that the pin in the door handle was resting against the door jam, giving the appearance of a closed door. The teen heroine cautiously placed her hand on the door and, with a look to Ron, gave it a slight push. The door began to give way under the pressure and, thankfully, it was well oiled and didn't make a sound. But it didn't matter if the door had squeaked; the occupants of the room were so involved with what they were doing that it was possible a dump truck wouldn't have caught their attention. 

"Look, Doc, I'm not going to ask you again," came the unmistakable feminine voice. "You can either tell me where the Mirage system is, or I can rip you lab apart, find it, and then show you levels of pain that you thought only existed in nightmares." She wasn't yelling but the seriousness in her voice told the heroes that she meant every word she said.

"As I have told you before, I have no idea what it is that you are talking about. There is no 'Mirage' system, as you put it, here. We do simple optical research, peaceful optical research." Kim and Ron could only assume that this was Dr. Fedor, as the exhausted male voice, that had a trace of fear in it, was unrecognizable to them.

"Grrrrr!" The two heroes, upon hearing that particular growl, knew that the woman had finally lost her temper. Their assumption was confirmed a split second later when something came crashing through the window in the door, showering both Kim and Ron in glass. 

The commotion was enough to snap the henchmen out of their daze and look in the direction of Kim and Ron and, in spite of their low intelligence, they could tell that the two people who were hunched down over by their employers did not belong there. At this point, it was easier for Kim to tell that her earlier assessment of six to eight henchmen was correct; unfortunately, it turned out to be eight and not six. The one closest to Kim and Ron, whom they assumed was the lead henchman, took a step towards them and shouted, "Hey! Stop right there!"

Kim was still wincing from the glass shards that were stuck in her long, auburn hair but she was looking in the direction of the henchman that had shouted so she wasn't as surprised at what happened next. Ron, however, still had his arms up over his head in an attempt to protect himself and was caught off guard when the door that had been there just a moment ago was violently ripped from its hinges and thrown aside. And standing in the doorway was none other than Shego.

"What is going on out here?" she demanded to know. She was yelling at the henchmen because she had not yet noticed the two teenagers that were at her feet. The lead henchmen, the one who had shouted earlier, suddenly became timid in the presence of a furious Shego. The 28-year-old woman, who normally had a bad temperament, seemed to be dripping with rage. She was dressed in her standard black and green cat suit that accentuated her curves quite nicely and usually presented such a sight that it commanded the attention of most people in the room. This time, however, her most defining feature was the cold fire that was burning behind her jade eyes, announcing to the world that she was not to be messed with just then.

"Well?" she spat, focusing her entire attention on the henchmen. His momentary pause coupled with the fact that Shego hadn't looked down yet gave both Kim and Ron the chance to take a step back, away from the enraged woman. But the lead henchman's fear of Shego was quickly outweighed by his fear of what she would do if he didn't answer her. Still too frightened to speak, he simply pointed at her feet to the location of where Ron was a second ago.

Shego looked down at her feet and, for the moment, her rage was replaced by confusion. She caught a quick glance of Ron's foot as he disappeared once again behind the bench. She wasn't entirely sure what she had seen and, her instincts kicking in, she quickly scanned the rest of the lab of anything amiss. Kim, unfortunately, had no bench to hide behind and, when Shego's gaze shifted from Ron on her left over to her right, she was able to spot Kim. "Kim Possible? What are you doing here?"

Kim knew that her cover was blown and stopped crawling away from the older woman. She quickly leapt to her feet and spun to face her arch-foe's 'sidekick', falling instantly into a fighting stance. Shego was about to advance on Kim when she felt a small, delicate hand on her shoulder. The blue skinned mad genius that owned the hand stuck his head over Shego's shoulder to get a better look at what was going on. "Kim Possible?" Dr. Draken asked no one in particular. "Shego, what's she doing here?"

Shego never stopped looking at Kim and said, to both Draken and Kim, "Getting Hurt." She now had a malevolent and slightly crazed smile on and took a step towards Kim. By this time, Ron had also realized that they had been discovered. He stood up from his hiding spot and stepped around the bench to face Shego and Draken. When Shego took a step away from the doorway, he was able to get a good look at laid beyond.

What he saw was a typical office, with a simple wooden desk and bookshelves that lined the walls. Well, it was typical except for the man that was tied to the chair behind the desk. Ron recognized the man as Dr. Fedor from the picture he saw earlier on the Kimmunicator. The Doctor was wearing a standard white lab coat, much like the ones that Mrs. Dr. Possible wore at the Middleton Trauma Center. He was wearing a defiant look that told Ron that the Doctor wasn't about to give Draken anything, but he also saw the fear that the man had in his eyes.

But Ron couldn't worry about the Doctor just then. Shego was advancing on his girlfriend and there were still eight henchmen to deal with. Ron had gotten into a fighting stance as well, but Shego was taking no notice of him. "Kim?" he asked the teen heroine.

"Ron, I'll take Shego. You get the henchmen." 

"So, you get one bad guy and I get eight? Not fair, KP," he joked.

She smiled slightly and decided to play along. "Fine then. You take Shego and I'll get the henchmen."

Ron thought about this for a moment. "You know what, I think I like the first arrangement better. But who's going to get Draken?" 

This earned a round of laughter from Kim and Ron, but also from Shego. Draken, who had been watching the entire scene unfold, was not as amused by Ron's comment as the other occupants of the lab. "Shego, just forget about the buffoon and get Kim Possible! My henchmen can take care of him."

Shego, having recovered from her fit of laughter, looked at Kim again. "Well, Kimmie, you heard the Doc," she shrugged. Then the raven-haired vixen called forth her own 'super-power' and ran right at Kim with her glowing green claws. Kim, who had been fighting Shego for years, was well acquainted with her fighting style and knew exactly what to expect. 

The villainess closed the gap between her and Kim in a heartbeat. Her earlier confusion and amusement were gone and the woman was all business as she prepared to make mince meat of the girl who had been a thorn in her side for many years. Fueled by anger and instinct, she swiped at Kim's head with her right claw.

Kim knew that Shego preferred to attacked with this maneuver first and moved her torso just ever so slightly back causing Shego to miss her completely. The attempted punch had left Shego off balance, but she quickly recovered and followed her body's momentum to the ground. She placed both hands on the floor of the lab and spun her legs around in a leg sweep to knock Kim to the floor as well. 

Our heroine saw what Shego was doing with enough time to avoid the attack. In a move that would leave even Bonnie impressed, she used the fact that she was already bending backwards to avoid Shego's strike to her advantage. Instead of fighting her body's movement backwards, she went with it and was able to spring into a flip in time to miss Shego's outstretched legs. 

Kim landed about a foot away from where Shego was and saw that the brunette was still on the ground. As Shego recovered from her leg sweep and sprang up to face Kim, the cheerleader rushed the other woman. When she was close enough, Kim threw a right jab at Shego but her attack was blocked. Kim pressed her offensive and countered with a left cross an instant after her right jab. Shego was once again able to block Kim's attack but it left Shego off balance and vulnerable. Kim realized this and, using the momentum of the last block that Shego made, spun her body around and landed a sidekick right into Shego's solar plexus.

Draken's assistant went flying back from the force of Kim's kick. She was thrown about five feet in the air and then, after landing in a heap on the floor, skidded for another three feet. Kim's naiveté surfaced for a brief moment in the hope that Shego was knocked out, but her reason got back in the driver's seat and she prepared for another round with the black haired beauty.

Shego, who was lying on her back after coming to a stop, raised both her legs into the air and then thrust them out away from her body. She preformed her movement with sufficient force that her torso was able to follow her legs and she was once again standing. Now, she was enraged but also not quite a hundred percent; the kick that Kim had landed had taken some of the wind out of her. But she wasn't about to show any sign of weakness in a fight, especially one with Kim Possible, and she charged at her foe with renewed determination.

While the two women were engaged in what Ron, in one of his naughtier moments (but never around Kim), would call a 'catfight', the other member of Team Possible was busy with his own problem. As much as he wanted too, he couldn't focus his attention on Kim just then as the eight henchmen began advancing on him. He could tell by the confidence they had in the way they moved on him and the smiles on their faces that Draken's henchmen thought of him in the same manner as their employer, a buffoon.

_"Alright boys," _he thought with a smirk, _"if that's what you think, then fine. I'll just have to educate you in the ways of Ti Shing Peck Quar."_ And with that thought, he rolled his neck, shrugged his shoulders, and slipped into fighting mode. For a moment, he considered waving them on, but thought better of it. Master Sensei did not teach Ron Stoppable how to fight like he was in the movies but to fight in real life. 

The first henchmen to reach Ron turned out to be the lead henchmen. He was big and slow and had no fighting skills whatsoever. His first move was to throw a punch at Ron's head with all the might he could muster. Ron simply sidestepped this clumsy move and let the henchman's momentum carry him off balance. Then, Ron stepped back to the other man and landed an unblocked hit to the man's stomach, causing him to double over. This was exactly what Ron knew would happen and as he saw the man grip his midsection and bring his chest down, Ron grabbed hold of his back and brought his knee up into the lead henchman's face, knocking him out cold.

But he was only one of eight and Ron knew that despite his skill, it was still seven on one and he could not afford to let his guard down. He spun around in order to check his six and saw that henchman #2 was charging at him. This one knew even less about fighting than the first one, if that was possible, and it was a simple matter for Ron to plant a roundhouse kick into the #2's chest. This sent #2 flying back into henchman #3 and both of them into a workbench, knocking both of them out of commission. 

It seemed that the beating the first three guys took had an effect on the other five and they had wised up, as two of them were now advancing on Ron instead of taking him on one-on-one. Number 4 and #5 thought it best to come at Ron from opposite directions in the hope that if one of them was taken out, then the teen hero's attention would be away from the other henchman and he would be able to take the 'buffoon' down. 

_"Not a bad tactic," _Ron thought, _"but it's not going to work."_ He waited until just the right moment when #4 and #5 were close enough and then struck. He leaped high into the air, bringing his pelvis up to the henchmen's head level, and snapped both his legs out at both henchmen. He landed both kicks to the jaws of both #4 and #5, and they dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. 

Meanwhile, Kim was having a little more difficulty handling Shego than Ron was handling the henchmen. Having sprung to her feet and charged at Kim, Shego launched a flurry of punches and kicks that Kim was able to block but which pushed the heroine backwards. Shego, desperately wanting to return the favor for the earlier hit she took, once again preformed a leg sweep causing Kim to once again perform a back flip out of harm's way. But this time, instead of getting up, Shego pumped her legs and went flying towards Kim. Just as Kim was landing, Shego arrived to land a flying kick to the teen heroine's chest. 

Her kick sent Kim backwards in much the way the same way that Shego had. But, instead of waiting for her foe to recover from her attack, the villainess rushed Kim. She noticed that Kim hadn't moved yet and was hoping to put the finishing blow to her while the other girl was down. Unfortunately, she had miscalculated. Kim had not been knocked out or was even seriously injured. She was simply waiting for Shego to become impatient and come after her, which the other woman was only happy to do.

The redhead waited until the last possible second, bringing Shego in as close as she possibly could, before letting Shego know that she was still around and kicking. The cheerleader brought her legs up and kicked Shego once again in the midsection. But instead of kicking her back, Kim dug her feet into Shego and, using the other girl's momentum, was able to carry the brunette over her head. Once she had launched Shego, Kim quickly rolled over onto her stomach just in time to she Shego smash into the wall behind her. 

But there was no crash that would surely have knocked Shego out as she never actually hit the wall. Instead, much to Kim's amazement, Shego simply went through the wall and disappeared behind it. "Wha…?" Kim murmured as she pushed herself up off the ground. She walked quickly over to the exact spot where Shego had disappeared. It looked like a solid wall, but Kim knew better. She placed her hand on the 'wall' and instead of feeling the resistance from the drywall, her hand simply passed through it and out of sight.

Then, it suddenly occurred by Kim what was going on. _"Oh course!" _she thought, _"The doc is a holographics expert. If he wanted to hide something really important, he would hide it using deception, using a hologram." _Then her eyes widened a bit when she realized another terrifying thought. _"And now Shego now knows where he was hiding the 'Mirage' and has probably got it!"_ And, with that, she stepped through the wall.

While Kim was coming to her conclusions, Shego had landed once again on the ground. She was a little shaken up but mostly confused. She knew that Kim had thrown her into a wall and was expecting to wake up in a prison hospital ward. But she never hit the wall and, when she looked around, she realized that she was in a room that she had not seen before. 

It was a very sparse and plain room. As she looked around, she noticed three walls and a table in the middle of the room. Then she turned around, expecting to see the fourth wall of the room behind her. Instead, she was treated to a view of the entire lab. She could see the fight between the henchmen and the sidekick (as a sidekick herself, she wasn't thrilled with the fact that Draken called Stoppable a buffoon, even if he was one). She also noticed that Kim Possible was walking over to where she was standing. 

Shego slipped right back into a fighting stance, preparing to fend off any attack that Kim was about to launch. But Kim wasn't running over to Shego and actually stopped right were the fourth wall was supposed to be. The brunette went right up to face the heroine wondering what the girl was doing. She was still standing there, confused by Kim's actions, when she saw Kim reach out with her hand as if to touch something.

_"Come on, Kimmie," _the villainess thought, _"You haven't hit your head. Playing dumb just isn't your style. Wait, it really isn't her style. Then why…?"_ And suddenly, the truth of the situation hit home for Shego. Kim actually thought there was a wall in between her and Shego. _"Hologram…"_ Shego thought. The older girl looked once again at Kim and saw that she was coming to the same conclusion that she had just arrived at. Shego guessed that that meant that Kim was going to step forward and enter the hidden room and a devilish smile crossed her lips as she readied herself to take Kim Possible out for good. 

Just as Shego had guessed, Kim did take a step forward and, just like her hand, passed through it without any resistance. She was only able to catch a quick glimpse of what laid beyond the fake wall when she felt a pair of hands grab a hold of her with a vice-like grip. The next thing Kim knew, she was flying through the air towards another wall. She had just enough time to think, _"I hope that this one is hologram too," _before she slammed into the very real wall at the other end of the room and fell to the floor, out cold.

"Sorry Kimmie," Shego gloated, "next time try using a real wall to take me out. It works a lot better than a holographic one. But you know that now, don't you?" The villainess began to laugh in a cold, humorless way. She was advancing on the redhead to put the final blow on the only person that had ever defeated her in battle when something else caught her eye. 

It was what was lying on the table in the center of the room. It was so small that she hadn't noticed it at first, but the shinny, reflective surface of the object had caught the light just so and had alerted Shego to it presence. Shego walked over to the table, placed both hands on its surface, and took a good look at the device.

It was about the size of a credit card, but was a quarter inch thick. It was made of a highly polished metal that gave it a sleek, futuristic look. There were no markings on it of any kind, but, upon closer inspection, Shego could make out a single button, a hook-up jack, and an infrared sensor on the side of the device. She picked it up and it began to hum quietly. She was about to give up on it and begin to look once again for the Mirage system, when she thought to turn it over and get a look at the underside of the object. And there, etched into the metal casing, was exactly what she was looking for. 

It said 'Mirage'. 


	5. Chapter 4: Decision, Decisions

Note: Please see the Foreword for updated Author's Notes

_Chapter 4: Decisions, Decisions_

Ron Stoppable had been a member of Team Possible since the beginning. He was twelve then, as was Kim, and when they went on those first missions, he had had exactly no combat training, no field experience, and little confidence in both who he was and what he could do. If it weren't for the fact that the only person in the world that he could call a friend found their new hobby exciting, he would have been content to stay home and play video games with his new pet. 

That was six years ago and much had changed for the blonde haired hero. He had been around the block a few times, was always there by Kim's side to play his part in Team Possible, and had picked up a few new moves in the process. He doubted that the boy he was back then would be able to believe what the man he was today could do. Like take on eight of Draken's henchmen at once.

But, here he was, standing in the middle of a lab in a military research complex, having taken five of the eight henchmen out of commission. He turned his attention to the remaining three, who looked more like small children now instead of the muscle behind Draken's latest scheme. Yet Ron felt no pity for them. They had chosen their path, just as he had, and this was were the two crossed. _"You should have made a better decision," _was all the thought he gave the matter before advancing once again.

One of the three was closer to him than the others, so Ron decided to eliminate him first. With speed that even Kim and Shego could only dream about, he crossed the distance between himself and his opponent in the blink of an eye. The other man never knew what hit him, which, Ron supposed, was probably a good thing. Two quick yet powerful left jabs to the man's midsection and one thunderous right hook to his jaw and henchman #6 was down for the count. 

Ron paused briefly over #6 to make sure that he really was unconscious and then looked up at #7 and #8. Both men were quietly shaking where they stood, their mouths open in shock, and Ron was sure that, if he could have seen them behind the visors that they wore, their eyes would be wide with fear. A playful smile formed at the hero's lips and he wondered if he couldn't use their fear to his advantage. Instead of rushing at #7 and #8, Ron merely stared intently at them and uttered a single word, low and even. "Boo."

This, apparently, was enough to send the two henchmen over the edge. They both jumped when they heard Ron speak and decided that now was a good time to get the hell out of there. If only they were thinking on the same wavelength, they might have been successful in their escape. But #7 started to run to his right while #8 started to run to his left, banging their heads together in a violent crash. Their collision caused both of them to knock each other out and they both fell silently to the ground, out like a light.

This half of Team Possible was quite pleased with the results of this little sparing exercise. He allowed his attention to remain on the eight bodies that now littered the floor of the lab before he remembered that Draken had brought more than just his henchmen. He had brought Shego as well, who was probably mixing it up with Kim as Ron stood around admiring his handiwork. 

Chastising himself for his moment of pride, he quickly spun around and began moving to the last spot where he had seen the two women. But he stopped after only a few steps, realizing that he was now alone in the holographics lab. He simply assumed that Kim and Shego had taken their fight out of the lab and began looking for any sign of a struggle that would indicate where his partner was when he heard a sound coming from his right.

He looked over to the location of the noise and saw the empty doorway that lead to lab's office. Between his henchmen and his assistant, Ron had completely forgotten that Draken was still here and that he had a hostage. The blonde began moving quickly just in case Draken decided to do something desperate and reached the entrance to the office in a moment. 

What Ron saw would have been completely comical had it not been for the seriousness of the situation. Draken had been trying to get Dr. Fedor up out of his chair and out the door in an attempt to make his escape, but was having little success. It seemed that the holographics expert had found his courage now that the rescue team was here and he was not about to go anywhere with his blue skinned captor. He had stood up and, despite still being tied to his chair, was able to swing it as a weapon and had backed Draken into a corner.

Draken, his henchmen gone and Shego no where in sight, now had all the danger of a bug bite and he knew it. He was cowering in a corner of the office when Ron walked in, and Dr. Fedor, having recognized the blonde as one of the good guys, was content to let Ron take over. The teenager walked over to where Draken was shaking and looked down at the supposed criminal mastermind. "So," he said with an even voice and his eyes trained on Draken like lasers, "just what do you have to say for yourself this time, Draken?"

The mad genius looked back at Ron with a mixture of fear and defiance in his eyes, albeit a lot more fear than defiance. Draken knew that he was trapped, that his henchmen were gone, that Shego was probably being beaten by Kim Possible at that very moment. He looked around the room desperately, not wanting to believe that his latest plan had been foiled and that he was captured, not by Kim Possible, but by Kim Possible's buffoon of a sidekick! And so he played the one card that he had left; he cried out for help to Shego.

Shego, for her part, was having much more fun on this mission than she could ever remember. Not only had she found whatever stupid toy Draken wanted for his latest scheme, but she also had an unconscious and completely helpless Kim Possible at her disposal. Slipping the small Mirage device into her jumpsuit pocket, she strolled over to where the redhead laid. Shego wanted to savor every aspect of this moment; after all, she was only going to get to kill the heroine once.

It took the villainess only a second to cross the room over to where Kim was. She stood over the cheerleader with a poisonous grin and malevolence in her eyes. "It's too bad that you're not here to enjoy this with me, Kimmie," Shego said, her voice dripping with poisonous honey. "Then I'd get to see the look in your eyes." The older woman then called forth every last bit of green energy at her disposal, raised her right hand to strike down her foe once and for all, and struck with all her might.

But her blow never landed. Just as Shego had begun to bring her hand down to put the finishing touches on Kim, she was snapped out of her moment of joy by the sound of Draken's shrill cry for help. For a second, she considered leaving him to whatever fate had in store for him but then thought better of it. He did sign her paychecks, after all, and, deep down, she had been with Draken for a long time and felt a _small_ amount of loyalty and friendship towards him (although she would never admit that to anyone, especially Draken).

_"Kimmie will still be here when I get back," _she reasoned with herself and, turning off her glowing hand, she dashed from the hidden room and back into the main part of the lab. After a quick glance around the room, she realized with no small amount of shock that Kim's bumbling sidekick had taken down Draken's henchmen. Alone. She pushed her confusion from her mind as she refocused on the task at hand. _"He must still be in the office," _she silently decided and moved to where she had destroyed the door only a few minutes ago. 

Looking in and taking stock of the interior of the office, Shego couldn't decide if she should be enraged, tickled, or worried. Part of her was enraged because the sidekick was freeing the hostage and Draken wasn't doing anything to stop it. Part of her was tickled because her employer was cowering at the sight of the buffoon and an old scientist. But part of her was worried as well, because she noticed that the blonde had taken down the henchmen without so much as breaking a sweat.

She simply shook that last bit off. _"Draken hires the worst help on the planet," _she thought. _"Just because he can take them down, doesn't mean he's any match for me." _And the thought of being able to tell Kimmie that her little friend was gone right before Shego eliminated her as well brought a delicious smile to her lips. The brunette noticed that no one in the office had seen her yet, so she crossed her arms and leaned up against the door frame. "Well, well," she casually announced her presence, "looks like you've been busy. Too bad none of it is going to matter after I'm done with you."

Ron, who had been busy untying Dr. Fedor, was caught a little off guard when he heard Shego in the doorway. He had assumed, incorrectly he now knew, that Kim would have captured the older woman and that it was a simple matter of calling in the cavalry to haul them off to jail. Now, instead of preparing to wind down after a successful mission, he was forced to face what was, in his opinion, the most dangerous villain that Team Possible had ever come across.

But his fear for his own safety was quickly replaced by a sudden dread at the though of Kim. He knew that if Shego was standing here, arrogantly baiting Ron, then Kim must be in some real trouble. Fighting not to bring some horrible mental image of what had happened to his girlfriend, he forced all his attention on the dangerous beauty in front of him. He squared his shoulders and brought a calm and confident expression to his face before replying to Shego, "And just what makes you think that there is anything that you can do about it?" 

Ron could tell by the reaction of the woman that she was not expecting this sort of response. She pushed herself off of the doorway and moved her feet into a more stable stance, and her bemused smile was replaced with a slight snarl. _"Probably thought I would cower and run for Kim,"_ the blonde thought. _"Which I might have done a couple of months ago. But not now."_ This last thought enabled a wisp of a smile to cross his face, but it was gone in a second and he wondered if Shego had seen it.

He didn't have to wait long for an answer. The villainess mistook the meaning behind the teen's smile as Ron dismissing her as a potential threat to his well being. The slight snarl was replaced with narrowed eyes and a grinding of her teeth, and she was unable to suppress the growl that arose from deep within her. None of this seemed to have an impression on the boy in front of her, but she could see a slight trace of fear in his eyes when she brought her hands up in a fighting position and summoned her deadly green energy. 

Ron could tell that he had pushed Shego too far and that the woman was ready to attack. That's when he realized that the small office in which he found himself was not an ideal place for fighting. He was pretty sure that he could handle himself in a fight in such close quarters, but he was worried that Dr. Fedor would get mixed up in it and end up hurt. So, instead of fending off Shego's initial attack, he decided that he would have to dodge it and get the fight out into the main part of the lab.

He had just enough time to figure out what he needed to do before Shego made her move. Fortunately, she decided to try and take Ron down with a flying kick to his chest instead of making a grounded assault. The moment Shego leapt into the air, Ron was moving straight towards her. He closed the gap between them in a heartbeat and, timing it perfectly, waited until the last possible moment before he got hit and then slid feet first right underneath her outstretched legs. His momentum carried him out of the office and into the more spacious lab beyond while Shego's momentum carried her into the bookcase along the back wall. Smashing into it, she fell to the floor just before the entire bookcase fell on her. 

Once Ron had stopped sliding, he sprung up, turned around to face his opponent, and fell into a fighting stance. He saw that Shego had crashed into the bookcase but knew that the powerful brunette would not be taken down so easily. A second later, the bookcase was violently ripped apart and a furious Shego arose from the pile of wood shards and destroyed books. Ron had never seen her quite this mad before and was beginning to wonder if he had bitten off more than he could chew.

And there was good reason why Ron had never seen Shego this angry before; it was because she actually had never been this angry before. She had expected to land her flying kick right in the boy's chest and send him into the bookcase. Just after she had launched herself at Ron, she saw that he was actually running towards her. She dismissed it as a desperate attempt to save his skin and was confident in her ability to deliver a through beating to the sidekick. She had felt her lips curl into a nasty smile just as she was about to connect her kick when the blonde simply disappeared at the last second. Instead of stopping her momentum with Ron, she continued to sail right over the spot that he had occupied a moment ago. Shego had just enough time to whip her head around and see that he had slid underneath her before she slammed into the bookcase. Her world became black and filled with pain, but there was another emotion floating in the dark. Rage.

It wasn't the fact that she had missed with her attack that enraged her; she had made many unsuccessful attempts against Kim over the years and had come to realize that no one, not even the 'great' Kim Possible, could land every blow and make every strike. It was more the fact that she had missed hitting the buffoon that injured her pride. Although she had never actually gone hand to hand with Ron in all the times that she and Team Possible had tangled over the years, she was sure that she would be able to beat him should the occasion every arise. 

But, now that that moment had come, she found herself in a moment of black pain instead of lording over his lifeless body. A distant part of her mind wanted to know just what had happened and the more cautious part warned her not to take Ron as lightly next time. But both these voices were quickly outweighed by the most dominating part of her psyche, her hate.

Without consciously realizing what she was doing, she had summoned forth the terrible power that the comet had bestowed upon her. Nothing was going to stand between her and proving to the world that Ron Stoppable was one lucky son-of-a-bitch; her ego demanded it. So, she grabbed hold of the bookcase that had crashed down on top of her, picked it up, and tore it in two like it was a piece of paper.

Ron knew that this was going to be the toughest battle he had yet to face, perhaps the toughest battle that he would ever face. All his training in Yamanuchi, the hours upon hours spent sparing with Yori under the watchful eyes of Master Sensei, the meditation to connect with the true power that he had within him, it was all for this moment. He silently wondered just how Kim did it, squaring off with the evil woman time and time again. _"I guess I'm going to find out," _he thought, and, for the first time since the fighting began, allowed doubt to enter his mind.

But his question would have to go unanswered for the time being. Just as Shego was about to charge and unleash her fury on the teen, Draken stepped into the doorway, right between the two opponents. Apparently, he had gotten over his earlier fear now that he had his right hand woman by his side and was once again the arrogant and deranged madman that Ron knew. What the teen wanted know now was why he had stepped into harms way, right between the matador and the charging bull.

Shego, however, looked like she couldn't care less. He was just another obstacle keeping her from restoring her pride (and answering an annoying doubt that had crept into her mind). But, he was her employer and deserved at least one chance to get out of her way before he was flattened. "Dr. D," she growled through clenched teeth, "you're in the way. I need to show Stoppable here the error of his ways."

Her thinly veiled threat did nothing to move Draken; in fact, he never took his eyes of Ron. The only acknowledgement he gave her was to put up his hand, signaling to her to wait and be patient. The villainess was not about to be patient, and took a step towards the doorway before Draken spoke, "Relax, Shego. There's no need to fight. We were just leaving with the Doctor here anyway." He made his pronouncement as casually as if he were giving someone the weather, but the maniacal grin that he was giving Ron told the hero that something was up.

"And just how do you suppose you're going to go about doing that, Draken? I'm not letting you go anywhere," Ron challenged him. Shego might be a handful, but the cowardly, blue little man that stood in front of him didn't stand a chance. He would simply stop Shego (_"if I can stop Shego"_ he reminded himself) and hope that Dr. Fedor could hold off Draken long enough to prevent the villain from escaping with the Doctor as a hostage.

Draken, however, wasn't backing down from Ron in the slightest. "Oh, I don't have to do anything. In a moment, you're going to be occupied with another matter which will give me, Shego, and the Doctor here ample time to make out escape." He was savoring every second of his banter with Ron and the blonde was growing quickly irritated with his smug attitude. But something in his eyes gave Ron pause; it was as if Draken knew something terrible and wasn't letting on quite yet.

"There is nothing more important right now that stopping you from stealing…whatever it is that you're stealing." Ron had missed the part of the briefing with Millar where he mentioned the Mirage project. 

"Oh, really?" Draken sneered at the teen. "So, stopping us is more important than, say, your little friend?" 

His last question had stunned Ron. He lowered his fists just ever so slightly as he felt his consciousness slip from the acute awareness of pre-battle into a haze of confusion. The hero couldn't figure out what Draken was talking about. Then, he suddenly felt an apprehension tugging at the corner of his mind as a thought struggled to rise to the surface. He wasn't sure what it was, but as the seconds ticked by, he began to feel as though all the blood had been drained from him only to be replaced with a cold dread. He needed to know what Draken knew and he needed to know now. "What are you talking about, Draken?"

The buffoon was trying desperately not to show the fear that he had just instilled in the teen. The mad scientist never saw a change in his facial features, but he had caught the slight lowering of his hands, the gentle slouching of his shoulders, and the anxiety behind his eyes. Draken was really getting into twisting Ron out in the wind but he couldn't afford to play with the boy's emotions any longer. "Well, I just think it's interesting that you're here fighting Shego all by yourself. I mean, isn't that usually the hero's job?"

And then it hit home for Ron and he knew exactly what Draken was getting at. Kim. He hadn't seen her in a long time but he had seen Shego and he knew that Kim would never simply leave a fight with the dangerous woman until the job was done. That meant only one thing: that his worst fear had been realized and Kim was hurt. Or worse.

After a moment had passed in total silence, Draken knew that he had won. It was now a simple matter of using the sidekick's feelings for his friend against him and Draken would be leaving with what he came for. So Draken pressed forward. "Amazing that she isn't here," he said in what passed for him as an innocent voice. "I wonder if something has happened to her?" Then he turned towards Shego. "What do you think, Shego? Did something happen to Kim?"

Shego, who had been on the verge of killing Draken just so that she could get another shot at Ron, came to the realization of exactly what her employer was doing. At first, she was annoyed because she wanted to do some serious physical harm to the teen, but seeing the anguish in his eyes, Shego has decided that this was a much more fun game to play. "I don't know, Dr. D. I think that Kimmie might have had a little accident."

Ron just stood there taking it all in. As he tried to figure out what had happened to Kim, a small part of him noticed that he was experiencing two distinct emotions just then. He was intensely afraid of what Shego had done to Kim and he was intensely angry at her for doing it and Draken for his casual superiority while talking about it.

The blonde was brought out of his internal reflection when Draken spoke again, this time cruel and calculating. "It's very simple, buffoon. You can either go and save your precious Kim Possible and let us leave or you can try and stop us, wasting what little time you have left to help her. The choice is yours," he concluded with a Cheshire-cat grin.

Ron already knew the answer to the question even before it was asked. Whatever Draken had come to get, Ron knew that Team Possible would track him down and get it back. But, if he didn't do something soon, he was afraid that he would lose the only reason in his life worth living for. Still, that didn't mean that he regretted letting these two get away; he had been looking forward to seeing whether or not he was good enough to go up against Shego.

So, his mind made up, he turned his back on the evil duo and headed back into the lab in search of his girlfriend. Draken, who watched Ron turn and leave them, turned back to Shego and muttered, "Fool. No matter, let's get out of here. Did you get it?"

The brunette vixen simply tapped at the small device that was residing in her pocket at the moment. Then she turned towards the wall that had once had a bookcase up against it and called upon her power once more. "How about an exit?" she asked her employer as she proceeded to rip a hole in the wall large enough for them to get through.

During all this time since Ron had untied him, Dr. Fedor had been huddled in the corner of his office unable to see into his lab, so he was unaware of Ron moving quickly away from the villainess pair. But upon seeing Draken and Shego turn from the doorway and focus their attention on other matters, he began to panic, realizing that Ron had left him to theses two. "What are you doing?" he cried out to Ron. "You can't leave me here with these two! They'll kill me!"

While Shego disappeared into the hole that she had made for their escape, Draken turned to look at the holographics expert with a mixture of evil humor and insincere shock. "Why, Doctor," the blue skinned scientist said, "we have no intention of killing you. You're the critical piece in our master plan." As Dr. Fedor watched Draken break out into a cold laugh that would leave even Senor Senior Senior impressed, he began to wonder if death wasn't a better option than what his two captors had planned for him.

Ron, however, had let any thought of Dr. Fedor, or Shego, or the mission drop from his mind completely. Even if his mind had registered the calls for help from the Doctor, he was a man with a single purpose: he had to make sure that nothing had happened to Kim. He looked about the entire lab in hopes of finding some clue as to the whereabouts of his girlfriend, but it looked as though she had simply vanished. He knew that, since Shego had appeared from close by, Kim had to be close by as well. He just didn't know where.

He began calling out her name in the desperate hope that he would get a response, but none came. As the minutes ticked by, the hope that Ron had in finding his girlfriend unharmed was being quickly replaced by an intense despair. On the verge of tears, he could no longer keep up the frantic pace of searching the lab and needed to rest for a moment. And the blonde, despite all his training, despite the Mystical Monkey Power, and no matter what he did to change himself, tapped into the one part of himself that would never change. His Ron-ness.

For only Ron could have picked the one wall in the entire lab that wasn't a real wall to lean up against for support. He placed one hand on his hip, crossed his ankles, and stuck out his other hand to rest it against the holographic wall. And just like Shego and Kim before him, instead of meeting resistance, his hand slipped easily pass the optical illusion. He realized quickly that he was falling and tried to catch himself before he fell, but his ankles had been crossed and he got one foot tied up with the other and spilled, head first, into the concealed room.

As Ron slowly got up from the ground, he took stock of his injuries and concluded that he only had a slightly bruised shin. _"It's good to know that some things haven't changed on missions,"_ he thought with a small smile. While trying to figure out exactly what had happened, he noticed that he was somewhere that he hadn't seen before. The only thing that he could see in the room was a table, but as he took a step to his right to go around it, he saw something else, something that gave his heart a moment of joy and dread. It was Kim's foot.

He was moving in a second, calling out her name. The blonde crossed the distance between them and was by her side in the blink of an eye. His heart began beating ever faster even though time seemed to slow to a crawl for the teen hero. Kim was lying on her back, arms at her sides, and her beautiful red locks hanging over her forehead, hiding her face. He quietly kneeled down beside her head and brought it up into his lap. He went to gently brush away her hair from her face when he noticed that it was wet and sticky in places. As he carefully pulled her hair back, it revealed a ragged, two-inch gash right along her hairline that was bleeding profusely.

Ron reached up and grabbed his mission shirt right where the seam was between the sleeve and the body of the shirt. With one quick, confident tug, he ripped the right sleeve clean off and, folding it twice, he began to tenderly clean her wound. When he was satisfied that he had gotten as much of her blood as he could, the blonde removed one of his shoelaces and tied the makeshift bandage in place. 

Kim still hadn't stirred from her stupor and Ron knew that he had to check to make sure that she was still alive. As he moved his two fingers towards her neck, he was sure that he would find no pulse. He could feel his entire world slipping away, all meaning, all joy, all happiness vanishing like a wisp of smoke in a breeze, gone forever and leaving in its place only the horrible reality of loss.  But as his fingers finally found the soft flesh of her neck and he began to feel the slow beating of her heart, a profound sense of gratefulness and relief entered his heart. 

He began to lightly stroke her cheek, as much to comfort himself as to comfort her. Ron looked down at Kim's peaceful and almost angelic face and wished that he could simply stay in this moment forever. But now that he was sure Kim was OK, his sense of responsibility and duty began to surface once again. The teen hero knew that he was on a mission, that Draken and Shego had to be stopped, and that every second that he kneeled here was one more that they had to make their escape.

So, with a great amount of reluctance, her grabbed Kim by the shoulders and began to gently shake her in an attempt to wake her. "Kimmie…" he whispered to her. "Kimmie, you need to get up now. Come on, Kimmie, come back to me…"

Ron's tender coaxing was rewarded by a tiny flutter of her eyelids. Kim, having been in a state of blissful unconsciousness, was brought back to a world of raw pain. The first thing she noticed was that her head was announcing its presence in a most brutal way. The redhead desperately wanted nothing more than to simply go back to sleep, but that was impossible now. She wondered vaguely what she had done to give herself such a headache when the fog of sleep departed and the redhead remember just what had happened.

_"Shego," _Kim thought. _"Shego's got the Mirage. Shego was the one who did this to me. She's trying to kill me. She's going to kill me. No…No…NO!"_

Ron, who at first was happy to see Kim start to come around, became increasingly nervous as the cheerleader's face contorted in a mixture of fury and panic. He was just about to redouble his efforts to wake Kim when her eyes flew wide open, she began to leap up, and screamed in a most guttural way, "NO!"

Her boyfriend, in a sense of rising panic, gently placed a restraining hand upon her chest. She hadn't yet noticed her surroundings and the redhead still thought that she was locked in mortal combat with Shego, so when Kim felt Ron's hand on her chest she assumed it belonged to the dangerous brunette. Years of experience and generations of instinct kicked in automatically and Kim reached up, grabbed Ron's arm, and began to twist it away from her, hoping to inflict maximum damage. 

Luckily for Ron's arm (and Kim's conscience), her reason broke through the fog of sleep and instinct just before she twisted and the teen hero took stock of her surroundings. And the first thing she saw was Ron's big, brown eyes looking down at her and the love and concern that he had for her behind them. She instantly melted into the safety of Ron's embrace as she threw her arms around his neck and cried out his name.

Ron watched as Kim came back from whatever blackness she was in to him. He felt a million emotions run through him as Kim wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and, as he returned the embrace, he conveyed everything he was feeling, his love, his relief, his fear of losing her, to Kim. The redhead hugged her man for what seemed liked an eternity before finally pulling away slightly, and gazed into his eyes. 

Then it occurred to her where she was. Her sense of duty took over and she chastised herself for acting this way while in the middle of a mission. People were counting on her and there would be plenty of time of this later. But, right now, she had a job to do. "Ron, what happened? Where's Shego?"

The other teen knew that his girlfriend had slipped back into mission mode and, despite the large portion of him that wished he could simply be her boyfriend just then, he put aside his rolling emotions and got back to the task at hand. "I'm not sure what happened, KP. I was busy fighting the henchmen so I couldn't see how you ended up in here. But, as for Shego, she and Draken are making their escape right now."

That last little bit got her moving again. "Shego's escaping? Come on, Ron, let's go." She quickly got to her feet and was ready to dash out of the room when a sudden wave of dizziness hit her. Ron, who had gotten up as soon as Kim was off his lap, was able to reach out and grab her with a steadying hand to prevent her from falling. It took a second, but Kim quickly regained her composure. 

"You alright, KP? If you're not up for it, we can always get Draken and Shego later," The blonde offered. He knew that she would never take him up on his offer, but he was worried that she might not be able to handle Shego at the moment. 

Ron was right. At least about the not-taking-him-up-on-his-offer part. Kim was not about to just let Shego waltz out of this complex with the Mirage without giving the cheerleader the chance to return the favor for giving her the splitting headache that she had. The heroine looked at Ron and said, with as much confidence as she could muster, "I'm fine, Ron. Really, I'm fine. But Dr. Fedor isn't going to be if we don't go after them." She saw him nod his head reluctantly and gave him a small smile in return. Kim was just about to turn and begin the pursuit when an idea came to her. She leaned over to Ron and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, whispering, "Thanks. I'll make it up to you later. Now, come on." And, with that, she ran out of the hidden room, Ron hot on her heals.

While Ron was bust making sure that Kim was all right, Shego and Draken were making the most of Team Possible's absence to make their escape. Shego was having little difficulty cutting through the walls of the building with her super sharp claws and powerful green energy. Draken, however, was having a much more difficult time persuading Dr. Fedor that it was in his best interest to come along quietly. The holographics expert was struggling valiantly against his captor but, despite Draken's extremely poor physical condition, the lifetime that the Doctor had spent in front of a computer left him in little shape to fight off the mad scientist. 

But regardless of whether he was winning the fight or not, Dr. Fedor was significantly slowing down the progress of Draken. At one point, Shego had simply gone ahead to clear the path to the outside of the building and Draken had lost sight of her. Once the raven-haired vixen could no longer be seen, Dr. Fedor redoubled his efforts to break free. After a brief struggle, it looked like he had finally gotten the upper hand as he had knocked Draken off his feet and into a wall. He was just about to make a mad dash back the way they had come and towards Team Possible when a green and black blur flashed in his field of vision.

In the blink of an eye, he was completely immobilized. Shego had his right arm pinned behind him in the iron grip of her right hand while she brought her glowing left hand up in front of his face so that he could get an up close and personal look at the power that the beauty held. "Ah, ah, ah…" Shego chided her captive, "We can't have you leaving so soon, now, Doc. Not when we've gone to all the trouble of 'inviting' you to our little get together." 

The Doctor was clearly much more terrified of Shego than of Draken. Upon hearing the cold voice taunting him, his panic once again rose up. His eyes widened, his mouth went slack, and he was just about to scream bloody murder when Shego finally decided that she had had enough. The villainess turned off the power in her left hand with the exception of her index finger and, with a light touch so as not to do any permanent damage to Dr. Fedor, tapped him on the forehead, knocking him out cold.

Shego felt the holographics expert go slack in her arms and with a disgusted sigh, let him drop to the floor. The brunette turned her attentions to her employer, wondering for the millionth time today just why she worked for a man so incompetent. _"The money," _she thought with a wistful sigh, _"if it wasn't for the money, he would've been dead by now."_

But no amount of money was going to stop her from feeling exasperated at the blue skinned man who was now recovering from his latest bout of cowering. Draken picked himself up off the floor and walked over to his assistant. "That really wasn't necessary, Shego," he told her in an annoyed tone. "I had everything under control."

The 'sidekick' simply rolled her eyes at his indignation. "Yeah, sure, right, whatever you say, doc," she replied with as much sarcasm as she could pack into her words. "I've found us a way out of here." Then she pointed to the unconscious body of Dr. Fedor.  "Now, pick that thing up and follow me."

Draken took one look at the 165lb man and looked back at Shego. "Shego, the villain doesn't do the manual labor. That's the job for the sidekick."

Shego just stared at him with her hands on her hips and a mixture of annoyance and anger on her face. Draken, whose ego kept telling him that he was the boss in their little crime duo and shouldn't be talked down to by Shego, felt his resolve wither under the brunette's glare. After a few more seconds, he finally broke down. "OK, OK, look, I can't carry him because I'm not strong enough. There, are you happy now?" 

This was exactly what Shego was waiting to here. She knew that Draken was never going to be able to pick up anything over ten pounds and had already resigned herself to the fact that she was going to have to carry Dr. Fedor. But, she wanted to deflate the ego of her boss just a little because every once in a while, Draken needed to be reminded of his true place on the food chain.

So, with a triumphant smile, she bent down, roughly grabbed the doctor by his back, and slung him over her shoulder. The woman walked right past Draken, back down the way she had made through the building, and said in her venomous honey voice, "This way, Dr. D."

Draken was fuming at the sheer effrontery of Shego's actions, but what could he do? He needed her for his schemes probably more than she needed his money. That's why, in spite of the humiliation that he had just endured, he kept his mouth shut and followed his assistant towards the exit.

After a quick minute of moving through one hole in the wall to another, Draken was beginning to wonder if Shego knew what a door was when finally they came to one of the building's exterior walls. The evil genius saw lights coming from the window that lead to the outside world and he decided to take a closer look to see what they were coming from. He had just about made it to window when Shego grabbed him and pulled him back. 

He went to yelp his protest but fell silent when Shego placed a finger to her lips, indicating him to be quiet. Her employer gave her a quizzical look and she responded by whispering to him, "Cops." Draken began to laugh in a cold way before he responded, "Local law enforcement? You're kidding, right? They've never been able to stop us before, and they won't be able to stop us now."

He was expecting Shego to agree with him and then quickly take care of the police so that they could make their getaway before Team Possible returned. But no reply came. She simply sneaked up to the window so as not to be seen from the outside and peaked out of it to assess their situation. When she turned back to Draken a few seconds later, her features were neutral but Draken, who had worked with Shego for many years, knew better. He could see her eyes were just a touch wider, and the supreme confidence and arrogance that danced beyond them had a tinge of doubt.

"We may have defeated the cops in the past, but this is different. Every cop in the tri-city area is out there and they came to play. I need a minute to think here." She began rubbing her temples and closed her eyes, bunching up her face in concentration. After her brief moment of thought, she looked at Draken with an expression of ninety percent confidence, which worried him because Shego almost always wore an expression of a hundred percent confidence. 

"Alright, here's the game plan. Once I open up a hole in this wall, you'll summon the hover car from our jet while I lay down cover fire. We'll then take the car to the roof where the jet is parked. You'll continue to make your getaway with the hover car and the Mirage while I'll take the jet and Dr. Fedor."

Draken considered this for a second and, deciding that he did not like the idea of splitting up, voiced his objections. "But, Shego, won't that make it easier for them to capture me and get the Mirage back?"

Shego shook her head. "The police aren't going to use too many resources on you because they'll see that I have the Doctor and they will still think that I have the Mirage. Besides, after I'm through with them, they won't have too many resources left to come after us with anyway." Her vicious grin told Draken that the Middleton police force was about to have war declared on it, and he was damn glad that he wasn't on the side opposing Shego.

The brunette positioned herself by the exterior wall and relit her left hand, bringing it back in preparation to blow a hole for their escape. She nodded to her employer to signal to him to get the hover car moving. The blue skinned scientist reached into one of the pockets in his coat and pulled out a small black box with several buttons on it. 

Pressing the one marked recall, a series of events began to unfold on the roof of the Photonic Imaging and Concealment Lab. The small, black jet that had gone unnoticed until this point sprang to life as all of its systems came online. On its underbelly, an elliptical crack formed as the hover car began to separate from the main body of the jet.  Once it was separated, the small craft began its short trip to just outside Draken's location.

Shego, having watched her employer start their little escape plan, brought her hand down striking the exterior wall, which caused the wall to not so much crumble but rather explode at the sheer force of her attack. From the outside of the building, it looked like that area of the building had just been hit with a bomb but without the fireball that usually accompanied such an event. 

This caught the entire assembled police force off guard. It had been close to a half an hour since Kim and Ron had entered the complex and it was eerily quiet in the parking lot until the explosion. Having had no contact with the two teens on the inside, Lt. Riverez was unaware that Draken and Shego were making their escape. Thus, he wasn't able to concentrate his forces on the section of the building where Shego had destroyed the wall.

And the villainess had chosen her escape route wisely. The hole that she was now looking out of gave her a view of the rear parking lot, where the Lieutenant had posted the fewest men. Thus, it was only a dozen officers covered by three cop cars that were there to greet the figure clad in black and green. 

In unison, they all drew their service weapons and ducked behind what cover they could find. Twelve nine millimeter Berettas and twelve pairs of eyes were then trained on where the smooth surface of the building had been interrupted, preparing to return whatever fire might come their way. But, when the dust settled and the officers could get a good look at the persons responsible for the explosion, they could only gape in awe.

The sight they were treated to was the last thing they were expecting. Standing in the hole on the fourth floor was a woman who was obviously in her late twenties, her hands on her hips and a wicked smile on her lips. She was dressed in a black and green jumpsuit that let the officers know that she worked out on a regular basis and the wind was sweeping her glorious black hair around her. And if the officers didn't know better, they could have sworn that the vision they were seeing was framed in an angelic green glow. 

As they lowered their weapons slightly while they continued to gawk at Shego, the brunette was only too happy to show those who were charmed by her sexuality the error of their ways. Shego brought her hands up into a fighting stance and showed the officers that there was more to her power than just a faint, green glow at night. 

Relighting both hands this time, she pointed at the nearest cop car to her position. Then, the brunette looked directly at the two cops that had taken refuge behind the vehicle and began to laugh in a maniacal way. The two officers that she had taken aim at looked on with a complete sense of shock at the sight of her glowing green hands. But when she pointed at them and they noticed the buildup in the glow, they realized that she was about to fire at them.

This realization was enough to bring both of them out of their awe induced trance and get them moving. Which was a good thing too, because they began moving at the last possible second before Shego struck. The brunette was laughing the entire time as she unleashed a bolt of her green energy that connected with the cop car. As the powerful force that the comet had bestowed upon her rippled through the car, it reached the gas tank a split second after the initial hit. Once the green energy and the volatile gasoline mixed, the laws of physics took over, created an expanding ball of fire and compressed air that lifted the car over ten feet into the air and separated every part of it from every other part. 

The other ten officers on the scene watched in horror as the green bolt flew from the girl in the building and struck the car. They all put their hands over their heads and turned away from the fireball that was where the cop car once was. After the initial shock and heat wave had passed, they turned back towards Shego with the intent of taking down this dangerous girl before she could get off another shot.

Unfortunately, they were just a half step behind the villainess. As the cops were bringing their nine millimeters up to draw a bead on Shego, the brunette had turned her attention to the next cop car in the parking lot. Unleashing another lethal blast at the three vulnerable cops that were taking refuge behind car #2, Draken's sidekick began to realize that she could only keep the police off guard for so long until reinforcements arrived and she began to take fire.

The officers were in a state of absolute panic as the second car in less than twenty seconds was consumed in fire. Deciding that they could no longer safely hold their ground, the dozen officers who were taking fire retreated to a safer vantage point. While they were pulling back, the hover car that Draken had called made it entrance. It came to rest just outside the hole where Shego was standing, awaiting further instructions.

Not wanting to waste the opportunity that the disorganized cops presented, Shego disappeared back into the building. Grabbing Draken, she practically shoved the mad genius out the opening and into the awaiting hover car, ignoring his yells of surprise and protest. Once she was sure that her employer hadn't done anything stupid, like fall the four stories to the asphalt below, Shego ducked back into the lab for the last time to grab Dr. Fedor and, throwing him over her shoulder, jumped into the hover car herself.  

By now, Lieutenant Riverez was able to get the cavalry moving and bring reinforcements to his men who were under fire. When the car that he was riding in finally made it to the rear of the building, he was presented with a sight that was even more unbelievable than when he had seen Kim and Ron getting out of the Global Justice jet. 

To the Lieutenant, it looked as though someone was firing rockets at his officers, as there were two small fires that looked vaguely like cars. Then he noticed the hole in the building and saw some sort of vehicle that was floating eighty feet in the air carrying what he could only assume was the mastermind behind the operation. Quickly assessing the situation, he concluded that since they had already been fired upon, he was clear to return it.

As soon as his car came to a halt, the Lieutenant sprang out and took cover behind his vehicle. Drawing his own service weapon, he pointed it directly at the now rising hover car, called out to his men to return fire, and squeezed the trigger. It only took the rest of the officers on the scene a moment to follow suit and Draken, Shego, and Dr. Fedor were quickly surrounded by deadly fire. But, in one of his few brilliant ideas, Draken had placed reinforced shielding on the underside of his hover car so that, as long as they kept their heads down, the Middleton police's gunfire bounced harmlessly off the hover car. It only took a few seconds and Draken and Shego had disappeared over the top of the building.

Just as the hover car was disappearing out of sight, Team Possible made the unfortunate decision to appear in the hole Shego had left in the building. It wasn't hard to figure out which way Draken and Shego had gone; all Kim and Ron had to do was follow the pattern of destruction that she had left throughout the building. Team Possible knew that they were on the fourth floor and, while Shego might be able to jump down out of the building, Draken and Dr. Fedor were neither in shape for nor had the proper training to make such a leap. Plus, there was the Middleton police force and a small contingent of US Marines that they would have to deal with should they make it out of the complex.

All this added up to the expectation that Team Possible was going to find a cornered villain, his sidekick, and their hostage. But instead, when Kim and Ron rounded the last corner in Shego's path of destruction, they found that she had blown her way out of the building and was nowhere to be seen. Indulging in her shock for only a second, Kim quickly realized that their was a fight going on outside. She listened for a moment until the gunfire stopped and then stepped to the ledge to look outside.

But from Lieutenant Riverez's point of view, it looked like another member of the team that had committed this larceny had simply been left behind. Since he had no information on the makeup or size of the enemy, he simply couldn't take the chance that the person who was now standing over his men wasn't about to once again open fire with whatever had destroyed the two cop cars. Besides, he was unsure if any of his men had been hurt or killed in the blasts, but, if any of them were, he was going to make damn sure that whoever it was standing there in the opening paid for it.

So, without giving even a second thought as to Team Possible, he brought his weapon up, took precise aim at the center mass of the individual in the opening, and opened fire.


	6. Chapter 5: Every Dog Has Its Day

Note: Please see the Foreword for updated Author's Notes

_Chapter 5: Every Dog Has Its Day_

The only thing that saved Kim Possible's life on this mission was Ron Stoppable's eternal sense of suspicion with regards to local law enforcement. Kim had worked with police chiefs and sheriffs and agents-in-charge throughout her career as a crime fighter and had come to place a certain amount of faith in them. Ron, however, had been forgotten and dismissed by those very same people and so he was never able to fully believe in them like his girlfriend did. 

Which was why, when the blonde saw Kim trust in the fact that the Middleton cops would look first before opening fire once again, he was just as convinced that they wouldn't care who was standing in front of them and let lose another salvo of bullets. Unfortunately, Ron was right. Just as the teen's eyes were registering what Kim was doing, a nine-millimeter bullet was expelled from Riverez's Beretta on its way to his girlfriend's heart. 

Looking back during her debriefing on what transpired in the next two seconds, Kim couldn't give a satisfactory explanation as to just what happened. She knew that Ron had to have been over ten feet away from where she was when the bullet rang out. She remembered turning her head in the direction of the sound of the gunshot. But there seemed to be a gap in her memory because after turning her head, the next moment in time that her memory registered was her, on the ground in a corner of the room, with Ron on top of her.

When the redhead looked up at her boyfriend, she saw a man who was in a complete and total state of panic. The blonde rolled Kim, who had landed on her side, over onto her back and began frantically searching her body for something. Still reeling from Ron's tackle, she couldn't figure out what it was that he was doing until he spoke up. 

"Are you hit?!?" Ron struggled to keep his voice as even as he could, but was failing at it. "Are you shot?!? Kimmie, for God's sake, are you hit?!?"

Kim was still struggling to figure out what was going on, but she knew that she had been shot at, which explained why Ron was so terrified all of a sudden. So, she simply did as she was asked and assessed her well being. Finding herself to be intact and unhurt, the redhead let her boyfriend know. 

"Ron, I'm fine. Hey, hey," she continued as she gently grabbed his hands to get his attention, "look at me. Look at me. I'm fine."

It took him a second but eventually Ron was convinced that she was indeed all right and that his Mystical Monkey Power had saved the best thing in his life. As his panic ebbed away, it was replaced by another emotion. The logical part of Ron's mind told him that it should have been an intense sense of relief and gratitude at the fact that Kim was fine, but that wasn't the emotion he was experiencing. It was rage. It was hate. It was a fury that not even a hundred Josh Mankeys could have elicited from him. 

His girlfriend watched from her vantage point on the floor next to Ron as the panic left his face. But what replaced it was something that sent a chill down her spine. His face began to contort itself into something that Kim would have been hard pressed to identify as her friend of over fourteen years. Then the man, who had taken the place of her Ron, spoke for the first time in a calm voice that did little to conceal what he was feeling at the moment. 

"KP, give me the Kimmunicator, please."

"Ron…" she pleaded with him, "I'm not sure that's such a good idea…" Kim wasn't sure what he wanted the Kimmunicator for, but she had her doubts as to what his motives where just then. But Ron wasn't going to let up. 

"KP, the Kimmunicator, please," he said, more forcibly this time, while sticking out his hand to indicate that he wasn't going to take no for an answer. Kim debated with herself for a second before she decided that she was just going to have to let her trust in Ron guide her. She silently, but reluctantly, reached into the pocket where she kept the Kimmunicator and handed it over.

Ron took it from her without a word, but he allowed his features to soften for a moment to give her a quick smile. When he turned his attention back to the Kimmunicator, however, his features had hardened once again. He pressed a button on the small device and brought Wade up onto the small screen. The Team Possible tech whiz expected to see Kim when he saw that his computer was linked to the Kimmunicator, but he was taking a sip of his ever present soda so he didn't notice that it was his other friend who had contacted him. 

"Hey, Kim, what's…" but he never finished his greeting. What he saw shocked him into silence. At first, Wade thought that he might have done something to incur the wrath of the man on the screen in front of him but he quickly realized that his friend's anger was focused elsewhere and he began to worry. 

"Uh, Ron, is everything alright? Where's Kim?"

"Wade, I want you to patch me through to Lieutenant Riverez of the Middleton Police Department. Now." 

It was obvious that the teen wasn't going to pay Wade's questions any attention as the blonde got right down to business. Normally, Wade would have wanted more information about the situation before agreeing to such a request by Ron, but his face said it all and the third man of Team Possible made the connection happen in seconds. 

"Ron, the best I can do is to patch you into the Middleton police frequency. There's no way to isolate Lt. Riverez's radio independent of all the other officers. So, whatever you say, the entire force is going to be able to hear it."

"That's fine Wade. Make the connection." 

The way Ron had reacted to his information, or rather the lack of any reaction, made Wade wonder if Ron was even listening to him at all. But, the tech genius decided that it must be important and, against his better judgment, he tapped his keyboard and opened the connection.

"Alright, Ron, you're on."

Ron wasted no time in getting the Lieutenant's attention. "Lt. Riverez of the Middleton Police Department, this is Ron Stoppable. Come in." 

Suddenly, every cop in Middleton was wondering just who the rather angry individual was that was broadcasting on their radios. A moment later, another very agitated voice came on the other end of the line, one that Ron recognized as belonging to the Lieutenant. 

"This is Lt. Riverez. Whoever this is, this is a restricted channel. Stop all further communication at once."

Ron, who had been pushed over the line all ready that night, snarled so loudly into the Kimmunicator that several officers thought their radios might have gone bad. 

"Aren't you paying attention, Lieutenant?" Ron spat back in way of a reply. "This is Ron Stoppable of Team Possible. You know, the good guys who went into the building? I need you to stop shooting at us!"

But the Lieutenant, who between covert military research facilities and flying cars and women who could shoot green plasma, was not about to take anything at face value that night. 

"Look, whoever you are, I have no way of verifying your claim. You could be another member of the team that broke in who got left behind and is trying to make some desperate ploy to get out of here alive."

"Alright, enough's enough Lieutenant! You want proof that I am who I say I am? Fine, then. I'm going to step in front of the opening in the building to give you your proof. _Please_ try not to shoot my head off."

The Lieutenant considered this for a moment. He was still pretty pissed off over the whole situation, but the offer made some sense. "Hold on," he told Ron over the open comm line. Then he switched to a secure frequency, one that Ron wasn't broadcasting or receiving on, that linked Riverez with the sniper team that he had put in place shortly after the initial fight between his men and Shego. 

"Sierra One, this is Top Hat. I want you to keep a sight trained on the opening. If anyone, and I mean anyone, other than Ron Stoppable shows himself in the next two minutes, you are to take them down. Is that clear?"

There was a momentary crackle of static then the reply came back, "Top Hat, this is Sierra One, copy that." And the man who was Sierra One, Sergeant Williamson, leveled his sights on the opening and brought his breathing under control in preparation to take down whoever was foolish enough to step into his view.

Riverez, satisfied that he wasn't placing his men in harms way again, switched back to the main police frequency. 

"To all Middleton police officers, weapons cold. I repeat, weapons are cold people. Do not shoot unless shot upon." 

He waited a moment to make sure that the message had gotten to everyone before he returned to the comm line. 

"Alright, if you are who you say you are, you can safely come out now." And, despite his earlier setup with his sniper, the Lieutenant brought his weapon up and aimed it at the hole in the building, just in case.

Ron knew that there was only one way Team Possible was going to be able to get out of the complex safely and continue their pursuit of Draken and Shego. It was fortunate that he was in such a state of rage because had he had the opportunity to think about it, he would have remembered that he didn't trust the officers below and would not have gone through with his plan. But, any voice of doubt was quickly outweighed by the power of his anger just then.

So, he helped his girlfriend to her feet and put a hand on her shoulder, indicating to Kim to stay put. He quickly crossed the distance between the corner of the room that he was standing in to just before the opening in the exterior wall. Taking a deep breath and bringing a sense of calm to his features that he didn't especially feel, Ron took one last step and exposed himself, hoping desperately in the professionalism of the Middleton police force. 

The Lieutenant was watching as he saw a figure step out from behind the cover of the wall but with the bright glare of the search lights that were trained on the building, he was unable to tell if it was Ron Stoppable or not. He quickly toggled his radio over to the secure frequency that would place him in touch with his sniper team. 

"Sierra One, this is Top Hat. Can you confirm the target as Stoppable? Repeat, can you confirm its Stoppable?"

Sergeant Williamson was really the only one on the ground who was able to get a good look at the man who suddenly appeared in the opening. He was looking through the scope attached to his rifle when he caught a glimpse of messy blonde hair and knew instantly that it was indeed Ron Stoppable. He removed his finger from the trigger and opened the channel to his Lieutenant. 

"Top Hat, this is Sierra One. I have a visual confirmation, the target is Stoppable."

Riverez let the breath that he had been holding go as he slowly dropped his hand back to his side. 

"Sierra One, this is Top Hat, copy that."  Then he switched back to the main police frequency. "OK, Stoppable, you're clear."

Upon hearing that he had successfully convinced the Lieutenant that he was one of the good guys and that he wasn't going to get his head blown off, Ron felt all the muscles in his body relax. He wasn't aware that he had been so tensed up, and suddenly he felt the toll of a day's worth of school, baseball practice, and a mission hit his system. He was tired, both physically and emotionally, and right now, police Lieutenants and super villains and military research projects were the furthest things from his mind. 

Ron was starting to succumb to his exhaustion when he felt a delicate hand on his shoulder. He turned to look at it and noticed that Kim had crossed over to where he was and was now gently rubbing his shoulder. She quietly reached down and took the Kimmunicator out of his hand, meeting with no resistance from the blonde. He wasn't even aware that he still had it let alone that Kim had taken it from him. He remembered vaguely hearing Kim thank Wade, but all he wanted to do was focus on her wonderful hand.

Slowly, she reached up with the same hand that was rubbing his shoulder and gently cupped his chin, drawing his focus away from her hand and up to her face. He felt an intense amount of sorrow (he would later come to realize that it was an emotional aftershock of having almost lost Kim not once but twice in one day) and the only thing he wanted to do was to put his arms around the woman he loved and hold on for dear life. But he couldn't seem to get his arms moving. A small part of him wondered if he was hurt, but that wasn't it. His arms simply seemed to have stopped obeying him, as if what they were being called upon to do was too insignificant to be bothered with at the moment.

So, he focused on the vision of beauty that was in front of him. _"God, how did I get so lucky?" _he thought as he focused on the one part of his auburn haired girlfriend that he loved the most: her eyes. As he stared into them, he could see every reason why he fell in love with her in the first place, her compassion for others, her fierce determination, her unquestioned loyalty, and her undying love for him. He was just about to lose himself in their warm, emerald gaze when her voice brought him back to reality.

"Ron," her voice was low and caring, "are you okay?" She wasn't quite sure what was wrong. For a moment there, he looked like he was going to take on the entire Middleton Police force all by himself. The momentary haze of confusion that she had when Ron tackled her had lifted and she was able to put the pieces together of what happened. She had been shot at, and he had saved her. 

She didn't blame the police, not really. It was her own damn fault for being so careless on a mission, for not taking into consideration what it must have looked like from the cop's point of view. She would just have to learn to be a little more careful the next time a mission involved gunfire. But just because she was understanding in the matter, that didn't mean Ron was. 

Which explained why he was in such a state of rage after it had happened. She knew that he wasn't too fond of local law enforcement because of the way they treated him, dismissing him and his contributions to Team Possible. And he clearly blamed the cops for her near miss just a moment ago. But now, after the moment had passed and everyone was safe, he looked like he was in a trance. She looked into his eyes and saw a tiredness there that she had not seen before. Kim saw him blink, but when her boyfriend didn't respond to her after that, she became a little more insistent, her fear and concern for him threatening to overpower her calm, asking him again if he was all right. 

Ron had heard her the first time, but it seemed like she was speaking to him across a vast distance, his own personal ocean of nothingness. What she had said really wasn't important; all that mattered was her eyes. As he was lazily staring into them, blocking out everything else in the world, he noticed another emotion swim to the surface. It was concern, and for a moment he couldn't figure out what Kim was concerned about. She was safe, she hadn't been hit with a bullet, and the police would no longer shoot at them. He couldn't quite put his finger on what was wrong until a voice in the back of his head, one that had been dormant since just after his anger took over, spoke up for the first time in what seemed like awhile. _"It's you she's concerned about…you need to wake up and let her know that you're alright…you need to wake up now…now…now!"_

The little voice was just enough to get him going again. He blinked, and when Ron heard Kim ask him for a second time it he was okay, he was able to respond.  

"Yeah, I'm fine KP. Just a little tired, that's all. Nothing to worry about," he replied, flashing her his trademark goofy grin in an attempt to quell her concern for his well-being. Having been snapped out of his daze, he suddenly felt his second wind kicking in, albeit after a day like the one he was having, it was more like his fourth wind.

Kim, however, wasn't totally convinced by his little pronouncement. It looked to her like he was waking up from a long sleep, but when he started moving again, stretching and bending in what she could only assume was his way of clearing out the cobwebs, she started to feel better. She was about to ask if he was all right once more, just to allay the last of her doubt, when he kissed her quickly on the cheek, and brought Team Possible back to focus. 

"Come on, let's get going, KP. Shego and Draken are still be in the area, and we might be able to catch up with them."

"Right. Let's get outta here."The cheerleader smiled at him, put aside all other concerns for the moment, and got back into mission mode. She once again pulled her grappling gun from the pocket where she kept it and walked up to the edge of the hole. Then, turning away from the opening and facing back into the building, she signaled Ron to give her a hand. Taking his cue, the other half of their team walked over to where she was and grabbed hold of her utility belt. Once Kim felt Ron get a secure grip on her, she slowly leaned back out of the hole and over the ground below. Allowing herself to lean as far back as she felt she could safely go, she aimed the grappling gun at a spot just below the top of the building and fired.

It took only a fraction of a second and the hook hit its mark. She had loaded a special embedding claw into the grappling gun this time so that, when it hit the concrete exterior of the complex, it drove right through it instead of bouncing harmlessly off of it. Once it was safely impacted by about six inches, Kim gave the rope a solid tug to ensure that it would hold her weight. She then let out enough slack on the gun and tossed it down the four stories to the bushes that were directly below them. 

Ron had been watching Kim intently the entire time, making sure that his grip was tight and she wasn't going anywhere. When he saw her toss the gun down to the surface, he figured that this was to be a repel down the side of the building to get out. It made sense to him, and when Kim looked back at him looking for understanding, he nodded in her direction. The redhead grabbed hold of the rope that was hanging in front of her, bent her knees, and let Ron know that she was ready. Feeling his grip on her release, Kim bounced slightly off the edge of the opening and out into the space beyond. Years of experience kicked in as she expertly used the rope and the wall to slow her decent as she made contact with the ground two seconds later.

Once Ron was sure that Kim had safely made it down, he followed suit, making the repel down the side of the complex as easily as Kim had. Kim retrieved her gun and, after recoiling as much slack as she could, pressed a button on the side of the grappling gun to cut the rope. Giving her tool a quick once over to make sure that it was still in good working order, she put it back in its pocket and turned to face the rear parking lot of the Photonic Imaging and Concealment Lab.

***

While Kim and Ron were making their way out of the complex, Lt. Riverez was reminded that he wasn't the only commanding officer on scene. Shortly after lowering his gun after getting confirmation that it was indeed Ron Stoppable that he was talking to, the Lieutenant's trained ears began to pick up on the sound of engines approaching his position. Still highly suspicious of any unknowns given the current situation, the Lieutenant dropped once more behind his cop car and turned to face whomever was coming, but kept his finger off the trigger of his Beretta; he had already made one mistake tonight that almost cost a life, and he was not about to make another one.

Most of his officers had also heard the noise and were taking cover, their weapons trained on the spot where the uninvited guest would appear from around the corner. It took only a moment and then Riverez was treated to a sight that he was both grateful for and annoyed with at the same time. Turning the corner of the military complex were three military hummers, each loaded down with what looked like half of the Marine compliment for the base and in the shotgun seat of the front hummer was their leader, Captain Millar.

Riverez stood up from behind the car and holstered his weapon. He took a quick look around at his men and noticed that several of them still had their guns trained on the Marines and had a mixture of fear and anger on their faces. He grabbed his radio off the roof of the car and opened a channel to his men, informing them of what was going on and reminding them that weapons were cold.

Millar, it turns out, had been quite busy since he saw Kim and Ron disappear into the lab after his little briefing. Not one to just sit around, the Captain felt he needed to do something despite his orders not to enter the restricted area. Given the fact that he knew nothing about who the thieves were or what kind of armaments they were carrying, he decided that this situation fell under the 'special circumstances' provision of his standing orders. Normally, his Marines simply provided guard duty for the building, packing nothing more than military issue side-arms. But, some general somewhere way higher up the food chain than he was knew just what the scientists were working on here and had decided that, should the need ever arise, he wanted the Marines on guard duty to have a little more punch than a handgun.

Which was why the Captain was walking away from the main complex towards a small, plain building that looked like a garage, tucked off to the side of the grounds and partially hidden from view. By his side was a Gunnery Sergeant by the name of Johnny Gannon, a veteran of both Gulf Wars who was none too happy with his current duty assignment. He had been bored for the last six months with guard duty and craved a little action, which explained why he was happy tonight. Not that you could tell from the all business like manner that his body language told anyone looking at him. 

Millar walked around to the left side of the building, right past the single garage door in front. The side of the building was a single, uninterrupted wall of concrete cinder block except for the gray, metal door that was set into it towards the front of the building. The two men walked quickly over to the door, and Millar removed a set of keys from his pocket. He thumbed through them for a minute until he came to the one he was looking for, put the key into the lock and twisted it, and then opened the door.

It was pitch black inside, as there were no windows in the walls of the building. Groping just inside the door, Millar's fingers found the light switch and flooded the interior with harsh fluorescent lighting. The Captain had been in this room a few times before just to check on things, but the Gunny hadn't. What Gannon saw reminded him of the old days of fighting over in the Middle East. 

Lined up in single file were the three hummers all decked out with special, reinforced armor plating and bulletproof glass. Hanging from pegs mounted to the wall were rows and rows of flack jackets and Kevlar helmets. And located on storage racks that went around the room were all sorts of various field equipment: radios, med kits, even a few pairs of night vision goggles. 

As the gunny was busy admiring the never before used gear, Millar walked past him on his way to the rear of the garage. Spread out along the back wall were four metal lockers that were about six feet tall and three metal footlockers, one in between each full sized locker. The Captain went to the next key on his key ring and quickly opened the first locker, revealing a dozen M-16 rifles, all polished, oiled, and in complete working order.

Upon hearing the slight squeak made by the doors to the locker as they swung open, Gannon turned his attention back to his CO. He couldn't tell what the Captain was doing, but he had removed something from its resting place. Then, he shut the locker doors and opened up one of the foot lockers, grabbing something in his hand. When Millar finally turned back to Gannon, the Captain was holding his M-16 in one hand, pointing it into the air, while slamming home the magazine with his other hand. 

"Sir?" the gunny asked Millar, his face still serious but unable to hide the excitement in his eyes. 

"Go get your men, gunny," he replied, one Marine to another. "I want to be ready in case hunting season for thieves comes a little early this year."

This time, Gannon was unable to hide his smile. "Yes, sir!" the gunny told his CO and off he went, double-timing it to go collect his men in preparation for whatever the Captain had in mind. 

The gunny was a highly efficient and motivated soldier and so, by the time Shego was blowing a hole in the wall of the complex, all of Millar's men were assembled and geared up for the mission at hand. He had just finished briefing his men on what little he knew about the situation when he heard the first cop car explode. He wasn't sure what had happened, as it had been all quiet up until that moment. Millar was just about to send two of his men forward to scout out what was going on when Shego let loose her second blast, destroying the second car. 

Millar was now sure that the Middleton cops were under attack and were being hit with what sounded like artillery. After determining that the blasts were coming from the rear of the building, Millar sent Gannon and twenty of his men to the front of the building in case the explosions were a diversion while he and the rest of his men got into the hummers and sped off in the direction of the detonations. 

It took the Marines a few minutes to travel the distance between their equipment shed and the rear of the complex. Turning the corner of the building, Millar was treated to a view of what looked like a battleground, with its visibly shaken police, their weapons drawn, and the two cop cars that were still in flames. He had been witness to many such scenes in his career in the military, but he never expected to see one in Middleton. 

He quickly identified where Riverez was standing and instructed his driver to head for the police Lieutenant. The lead hummer immediately changed it course, and the other two quickly followed its lead. In a moment, the three military vehicles came to a halt just in front of Riverez and Millar got out.

All previous arguments between the two men were forgotten as their professionalism overrode the memory of their earlier power struggle. Millar went straight up to Riverez as his men filed out of the hummers behind him and asked him what was going on. Riverez quickly launched into a short description of what had transpired since Shego had announced her presence to the Middleton police force. 

Millar took the story in stride, a plan already forming in his mind. Once he heard that the perpetrators of the break-in were out of the lab and heading for the roof, he knew that he was finally able to do to what he had been tasked with in the first place: protection of the complex and the elimination of all threats against it. His orders specifically stated that he was not to enter the restricted area under any circumstances; they said nothing, however, about the roof of the building.

Just as Riverez was finished updating Millar, Kim and Ron joined the little group. The Lieutenant took one look at Kim with her bandaged head and he knew that his suspicions about Team Possible's abilities were correct. He wondered again, for what seemed like the hundredth time that night, just who would be so criminally negligent as to let to kids go on such a dangerous mission. 

He regarded Kim with an 'I-told-you-so' look and said, completely condescendingly, "Well, it looks like you've got yourself quite a nasty cut there, little missy. Now, why don't you run along to the medic station and get that looked at while the adults fix this situation."

Kim probably should have hit the roof when Riverez called her 'little missy'; the last man to do so had learned the hard way Kim Possible was not a fan of that particular moniker. But she was way too tired to deal with a fool like Riverez and way too focused on getting Shego to care. Ron, however, had plenty to say to the Lieutenant about proper police procedure and how to verify a target before shooting at it.

Kim watched as her boyfriend walked right up in front of Riverez, just a few inches from his face. Both men looked like they wanted to take each other's head off and Kim wasn't so sure that the blonde wouldn't just go ahead and do it. A more timed man would have backed down at the sight of Ron Stoppable just then, as his anger came flooding back to him. But Riverez was not about to give any ground to someone whom he blamed for the catastrophe that was that night. 

"What?" he snarled at Ron.

"Lieutenant," Ron began, his voice shaking with rage, "if your men ever, _ever_ fire on us without looking first again, I will personally make sure that you get a much nastier reception than the one Shego just gave you."

The Lieutenant responded by giving Ron a single, forced laugh. "You and what army, little boy? Just be thankful that I don't arrest you for obstruction of justice. Now, back up," and Riverez gave Ron a little push to get his point across.

That push caused more than just to put a small amount of distance between Ron and Riverez; somewhere, deep inside Ron, something snapped. Kim watched in horror from a few feet away as Ron silently fell into a more stable fighting stance. Riverez, it seemed, did not know martial arts otherwise he would have realized that he was now dealing with man who was as dangerous as a coiled snake, ready to strike. The redhead simply couldn't believe what she was seeing as the Lieutenant gave Ron a smug look, as if to convey who was top dog around here, while Ron used the man's moment of self-congratulations to rear back in preparation to attack.

Thankfully, the strike never came, otherwise Ron probably would have spent the night in jail. Just before the blonde was about to let loose on Riverez, Millar called Ron and Kim over to where he was. The Captain had apparently used the time that Ron and Riverez had been occupied to good use. He had a schematic of the building out again, only this time it was a drawing of the roof, and he was talking into his radio.

"Gunny, you got all that?" they heard Millar say into the radio as they approached him.

There was a momentary pause before the reply came through. "Got it. Two hostiles, one friendly, we are clear to engage on the roof."

Millar had noticed that he now had Team Possible's undivided attention. He knew that Kim was not going to like what he was about to say next, but he was a soldier tasked to protect both the Mirage and Dr. Fedor at any cost. But, she had a right to know what was going on and would not hide what he was doing from her.

He locked eyes with hers, toggled the radio once more, and informed Gannon in no uncertain terms, "And, gunny, you take them down with whatever means necessary. Including deadly. Understood?"

"Understood. Gannon out."

The Captain saw the redhead's eyes go wider a touch, but she stayed silent as the gunny's reply came over the comm line. In all the times that Team Possible had faced off with Shego and Draken, Kim and Ron had never even though about the use of deadly force, much less used it against the villains, despite the fact that Shego seemed bent on killing them. Kim understood why the police would return fire after being fired upon, but to order someone to go off and terminate Shego and Draken seemed somewhat out of place in their mission. 

"Captain, is it really necessary to eliminate them? We've never had to resort to that kind of a response before," Kim argued.

The Captain shook his head. "I'm sorry, Kim, but I have my orders. I cannot allow them to escape with Dr. Fedor. And, as you can see," he continued with a gesture towards the still smoldering cop cars, "they have no qualms about using it on us."

Kim still wasn't sure about it, and looked over to Ron for some help in making her case, but it looked to her like her boyfriend might actually agree with Millar's tactics. He was staying very quiet and was trying his best not to meet Kim gaze, instead staring intently at the map of the roof that was laid out before him. She wasn't sure what he was feeling just then, but Kim made a mental note to have a talk with him about it after all this was said and done.

Regardless of any argument that Kim and Millar might have been having at the moment, Gunnery Sergeant John Gannon had been given his orders and he would carry them out.  It took him only a few seconds to convey the tactical information to his men and they were moving. They might have been tasked to provide security, but that didn't mean that the twenty armed men weren't still Marines, in excellent physical condition, and this enabled them to climb the four flights of stairs in record time. Once on the fourth floor, they quickly made their way over to the roof access, which was a separate staircase remarkably close to Dr. Fedor's lab. He left four of his men behind to cover the only exit from the roof into the building and proceeded up the last flight of stairs to the roof.

The stairs ended at a small platform just before the last obstacle between the Marines and their objective. The single, metal door thankfully swung out into the roof, but it looked like it was made of the same reinforced titanium that the air shaft grating was made of. Gannon grabbed the handle on the door, gave it a twist, and gently tried to push open the door. Unfortunately, it seemed that the door was locked and prevented anyone from getting either in or out. The gunny knew he was losing time fooling around with the access door, so he made a quick decision.  

"Green," Gannon called out to his demolitions expert. 

The lance corporal rapidly made his way to the front of the group. LCP William Green had at one time been a very proficient master of explosives for his country until an unfortunate incident with a kid in Afghanistan led him to give it all up in favor of something less stressful, like a security post in the States. But that didn't mean that he had forgotten how to use them, and the gunny knew this and was going to take full advantage of his know-how.

"Here's the deal," Gannon informed him. "I need you to rig an explosive to take out this door then a couple of flash-bangs to disorientate the targets. Got it?"

The lance corporal nodded his understanding and began to get to work. It didn't take him long to place a small amount of plastic explosives over the lock on the door. Green decided that it would be too dangerous given their close quarters to simply blow the door off its hinges, so he was forced to use a limited quantity of his C-4. He just hoped it would be enough against the reinforced door, otherwise it would alert their enemy to their presence. 

Once he was confident in the rig, he signaled for everyone to move down the stairs to a safe distance. He indicated to the gunny that everything was in place and handed two flash-bang charges over to the two privates who would be the first wave. The plan was that once Green blows the door, the privates would throw the charges out onto the roof so as to disorientate the target, while the rest of the squad would follow to engage the target.

As soon as everyone was in place, Green looked over at Gannon and got a slight nod. The lance corporal then twisted the handle on the detonator, sending an electrical charge to the plastique. The Marine hadn't forgotten a single thing about his training in Afghanistan, the gunny saw, as the locking mechanism on the door was turned into pieces of scrap metal. A half a second after the initial blast, the two privates threw the flash-bangs into the open space of the roof; the rest of the squad waited for them to go off, and then the Marines charged their enemy with Gannon in the lead.

The explosion of the door had caught the occupants of the roof off guard. It had been fairly quiet since Shego had piloted the hover car over the edge of the roof and out of the police's gunfire. The villainess was not one to waste time, so she had been busy making the most of the authority's lack of response. 

It would take the jet a few minutes to fully warm up; normally they would have left the engines running but stealth took a higher priority on this job than speed. While this was happening, Shego opened the cockpit to her jet to get Dr. Fedor in. The brunette's jet was decidedly different from the Global Justice jet that Kim and Ron had arrived in. While the GJ jet was designed mainly for transport, Shego's was a fighter. Her jet was much smaller than the GJ jet, which allowed from much greater flexibility and maneuverability. Also, it only had room for only two passengers, with one seat behind the other. Yet, the biggest difference between the two was a nasty little surprise that was concealed in the real underbelly of her jet, there in case anyone got a little to close for comfort.

As she silently worked, she wondered why the cops were giving her so much time to make her escape. But what she really couldn't figure out was where Team Possible had gotten off to. Usually, once Kim Possible attacked she was like a pit bull, never letting go until the job was done. But the brunette hadn't seen nor heard from Kimmie since she had smashed her into that wall some thirty minutes ago. 

_"Maybe I hurt little Kimmie more than I thought," _Shego though as a bemused smile crossed her lips. The woman let herself indulge in one of her fantasies for a brief moment as she continued to work. She could picture Kim's lifeless body there on the floor of the hidden room with the buffoon by her side, sobbing at his loss. It was quite the perfect picture (at least, perfect for Shego) and one that she wished she could see first hand. But, she had a job to do and could no longer afford to indulge such daydreaming.

Once the brunette was satisfied that the holographics expert was safely in place, she turned her attention to Draken. Her blue skinned boss hadn't said much since she had shoved him into the awaiting hover car, and it was clear that he was pouting. Shego went to say something to him, but never got the chance because at that moment, two things happened. First, the jet engines became fully charged and ready for takeoff. And, second, the door to the roof was violently blown open.

Shego had a fairly good idea of counter-terrorism procedure and instead of staring at the open doorway, she quickly averted her eyes to avoid the brilliant flash of light that she knew was coming. Draken, however, was still sulking about being shown up by Shego on this job and was looking for something to take his mind off of the humiliation that he was feeling just then. So, when LCP Green destroyed the door's locking mechanism, Draken's mind jumped at the distraction. He turned to see just what had happened, and was focusing his full attention on the doorway when the two flash-bangs went off.

By the time the flash from the charge had dissipated, Shego had already summoned her deadly plasma energy and was running to her right to take cover in the hover car. She knew that whoever was coming through the doorway next, be it the FBI, Global Justice, or the military, they were someone serious. Using one of the few advantages of being the bad guy in the situation, the villainess didn't wait to be fired upon first, and started to unleash bolt after bolt of her green blasts at the Marines in the doorway. 

The gunny had wasted no time after he saw the privates throw the flash-bangs towards their targets. As the squad leader, he felt that it was his duty to be in the front, leading his men; it was the only way, he believed, that one could effectively command one's troops. Thus, the first man out onto roof was the gunny, who quickly identified one of the hostiles (its not hard to miss someone described as a babe in a green and black cat suit). He moved to his right as soon as he was out the door, running as fast as he could to take cover behind an ventilation unit, while bringing his M-16 up to fire upon his enemy. The next man out of the door turned out to be LCP Green, who was doing much the same as Gannon except he ran to his left. 

The third Marine was not so lucky. By the time Green was dashing out onto he roof, Shego had taken up position in the hover car. With a quick shove to get Draken down and out of harm's way, she ignored the gunfire coming from the two Marines already on the roof and let loose a shot at the doorway. The Marine who happened to be in the doorway at the time took the blast on his right shoulder, instantly charring his skin and fracturing his collar bone. The force of the blast was enough to send him flying back into the building, taking down several of his fellow Marines in the process. 

Shego noticed this and decided that she had an opportunity to cut the number of people who were after her from a lot down to two. As the Marines were trying to regain their footing in the small stairwell, the brunette fired off another shot, but this time, it was directed at the small enclosure that the doorway was in. The hover car's shielding giving her the precious few seconds of cover she needed, Shego was able to melt the metal surrounding the doorway, effectively cutting off the other eighteen Marines from the two that were on the roof.

_"Two against one. Now these are odds I like," _the brunette thought with a malevolent grin. Despite the fact that they now had no backup, the gunny and the lance corporal still had their orders to stop his crazed woman. Which was why they paid little heed to when Shego melted to doorway as they continued to fire upon the hover car. But, for all their direct hits, it seemed as though the shell of the vehicle was immune to gunfire because, while the woman was taking extra care to stay behind the side of the hover car, she regarded the Marine's gunfire as little more than a nuisance. 

But, now Shego could afford to focus her undivided attention on the hapless soldiers that continued to fire on her. She turned he attention to the sniveling coward that was her boss, pulled out the Mirage from her jumpsuit pocket, and handed it over to him. 

"Dr. D," she informed him with the tone of someone giving orders to a subordinate, "I'm going to create a diversion. Once the gunfire stops, get the hell out of here and I'll meet you back at the lair. Got it?"

The blue-skinned madman simply nodded his head silently as he stared back at Shego with a look of fear in his eyes. The villainess simply rolled her eyes and shook her head, wondering for the umpteenth time today why she worked for this guy. She sighed, and, placing any thought about her future career with Draken on the back burner, made her move. Standing quickly, the brunette pointed one hand at the ventilation shaft that Gannon was hiding behind and the other hand at the ventilation shaft Green was hiding behind and fired. 

The two metal protrusions that the Marines were hiding behind instantly exploded, completely destroying the front of the air shafts and throwing both Marines backwards. It was lucky for Gannon and Green that Shego decided to fire two shots at once. This effectively cut the power behind each blast in half, because a full blast to one airshaft would surely have killed the Marine that was crouched behind it. As it was, Green was simply disorientated, and Gannon took a small piece of shrapnel to the left forearm. 

Yet, the goal was not to kill or even injure her attackers, it was merely to get them to stop firing upon them long enough for Shego and Draken to make their escape. This the villainess accomplished. The second she let lose her plasma energy, Shego preformed a back flip up and out of the hover car landing gracefully on the roof surface. Not wasting a moment, she began running for her jet, keeping her entire focus on making it to the safety of the jet's shielding before the Marines recovered. 

She made it to her objective in a few scant seconds and quickly leaped into the open cockpit. Gracefully settling into the pilot's seat, she expertly worked the controls to close the canopy and bring the extra shielding online with no time to spare. Just as the onboard computer announced that the shielding was at full capacity, she heard the _ping_ of gunfire ricocheting off the fuselage of her jet. She gave a quick glance over to where the hover car was, but it appeared that Draken didn't need to be told twice to get the hell out of Dodge. 

The gunny was the first to recover from Shego's attack. Part of his mind registered that his forearm was injured, but he pushed aside the pain for the moment. He was not about to let that bitch get away from him now. He knew that he was hurt, he had no idea if Green was even alive, and he wasn't sure what had happened to the rest of the squad. It was time that the raven-haired vixen paid for her misdeeds, so, despite the pain in his arm, he brought his rifle up, took aim at the cockpit where he saw his target, and opened fire. 

Unfortunately, his rounds seemed to have as much effect on the jet in front of him as they did on the flying car. He continued to fire on the jet for a few seconds before realizing the futility of the situation and stopped. Gannon watched with barely contained rage as the green and black woman powered up her engines and brought the jet up off the roof. Once she was a few feet into the air, she turned the engines ninety degrees in preparation for forward flight, looked right at the Gunnery Sergeant, blew him a kiss, and went streaking off into he night.

While the rooftop assault party was learning just why Shego was on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List, Millar, Riverez, and Team Possible were left to wonder what the situation was on the roof. They had heard the explosion from the C-4, then the two flash-bangs, followed by gunfire and the sounds of the two ventilation shafts detonating. But what really got their hearts moving was the sight of Shego's jet rise into the air and then take off like a bat out of hell. 

_"Is it possible that she took out twenty of my Marines?"_ Millar thought. He couldn't see how a single person could do all that but he had just seen her get away after engaging in a skirmish with his men. He didn't have to wait long before the answers to his questions came to him over his radio.

"Captain, this is Gannon, over."

Millar quickly grabbed his radio and pressed the transmit button. "Millar here. What the hell happened, gunny?"

"We engaged the target a short time ago. She was able to cut off most of the men in the stairwell before we could get onto the roof. Not that it would have made a difference, her jet has some kind of armor that makes it bulletproof. Captain, I personally shot the damn thing with a couple of dozen rounds and they all just bounced harmlessly off it."

"Have you taken any causalities?"

"Two. One medium and one superficial. Jackson got some third degree burns on his shoulder and a broken collar bone after he got hit by one those green charges the woman emits from her hands and I took a small piece of shrapnel in the forearm."

"What about the targets? Where are they now?"

"The blue-skinned man took off in the flying vehicle and the green and black woman escaped in the jet along with Dr. Fedor."

Kim and Ron had been standing close enough to Millar to hear the entire exchange between two men, and upon hearing that the two villains had escaped, they looked at each other and engaged in a silent conversation. It only took a fraction of a second for them to reach a conclusion, with Kim speaking first. 

"I'll get Shego…"

"…while I'll get Draken" Ron finished her thought. 

Kim felt good to be back in the game; it seemed to her like she hadn't really hadn't made a contribution to this mission in awhile and was looking forward to a chance to settle the score with Shego. The police had had their chance at her, as had the Marines, but now it was Kim Possible's turn. And before anyone could say another word to her, she took off in the direction of the Global Justice jet.

Ron, however, had a bit of a problem. While Kim was able to follow Shego in the GJ jet, he had no way to follow Draken. As he was watching his girlfriend race towards her ride, Ron began to ponder his situation when he heard the Lieutenant shout at Kim, "Hey! Just where do you think you're going?"

His little outburst attracted the blonde's attention and he turned to his right to tell Riverez to shut the hell up when something behind the police Lieutenant caught Ron's eye. They looked like they were brand new, still all nice and shiny, and despite the fact that Ron had never ridden one before, it looked like the police motorcycles that were about fifty yards behind Riverez were the answer to his problem. 

Making a quick decision, Ron was off and running at the bikes, his mind barely registering Riverez's demands to know what he was doing. The Lieutenant didn't have to wait long before getting his answer as he watched the male half of Team Possible come to a sudden halt in front of the two bikes. Struggling to figure out just what the blonde was doing, he realized with a rising sense of dread just what the boy planned on doing as he swung his right leg over the motorcycle.

Ron looked down at the instrument panel and gave a silent prayer of thanks to whoever left the keys in the ignition. Unbeknownst to Kim, he had taken up a recent interest in movement of the two-wheel kind. He knew that she would worry about it way too much if he started riding all of a sudden, so he had decided to study up and practice well in advance of telling his girlfriend. He had gotten the studying part down; he knew where everything was on a bike and how to ride one in theory. But he had yet had the chance to actually get on a motorcycle while it was running and put the theory into practice. 

_"Oh, well, there's no time like the present," _the teen hero thought as he turned the ignition key to 'On', checked to make sure the bike was in neutral, set the choke, opened the gas tank, and pushed the electronic starter button. His efforts were rewarded with a gentle roar from the bikes powerful engine which grew increasingly louder as he turned the throttle. 

He allowed himself a small smile while he brought up the kickstand and put the bike into first gear. _"Here goes nothing," _he thought as he released the clutch and engaged the throttle. For a split second, Ron thought he might just be the most natural motorcyclist in the world until the bike promptly stalled on him.

Cursing softly under his breath, he quickly reset everything for a second attempt at getting the bike out onto the open road. As soon as he had brought the engine back to life, Riverez came running up to the side of the bike, his face showing a strange mix of anger, panic, and fear. 

"What the hell are you doing, Stoppable? Are you trying to get yourself killed? Get off that motorcycle now!" 

Ron paid the Lieutenant's demands no heed. He gave a quick sideways glance at the fuming man, let loose on the clutch, and pulled back on the throttle. This time, the blonde had gotten the proper timing down and instead of stalling the massive Harley, it took off, streaking out of the parking lot and towards the highway beyond. 

Normally, it takes a person some time to become comfortable on a motorcycle and get the balancing down so that they don't end up a smear on the pavement somewhere. However, Ron Stoppable wasn't just another person; he was the heir to the Mystical Monkey Power. He tried for about all of two seconds to do it all on his own, but after wobbling forward for a few feet, he quickly realized that he would never be able to catch up to Draken this way. So, for the fourth time today, he tapped into his power. The police that were watching the scene unfold had been a heartbeat away from laughing at the hapless teen, waiting for when he fell off the bike. But the next thing that they saw was the teen get complete control of the machine, lean down low to the bike to cut down on wind drag, and take off into the night.

For a moment, Ron forgot all about the mission at hand and simply enjoyed the feel of the wind whipping through his hair and the pure freedom of speeding down an open highway. He let his thoughts drift for only a moment, and then brought his focus back to catching up with Draken. That was when Ron realized that he had no idea where Draken had gotten off to.

The teen hero silently wished that Kim had not taken the Kimmunicator from him back in the complex, otherwise he could have contacted Wade to get a fix on the madman's location. It wouldn't be a hard task for the team's tech guy to locate a flying car in sleepy Middleton. 

_"Wait a minute," _the blonde thought as an idea began to form, _"a hover car has got to be something enough out of the ordinary that people are going to be calling it in to the police."_ Ron flipped on the police radio on the bike and turned up the volume so that he could hear over the noise of the bike. Most of the chatter that he picked up was related to the situation back at the Photonic Imaging and Concealment Lab. Ron was patient, however, and his patience was rewarded a few minutes later when a call came over the radio about reports of a flying car over on Old County Road.

Ron, who had spent his entire life growing up in Middleton, was well acquainted with that stretch of road and gave a silent prayer of thanks that he was not too far away. He quickly raced through the gears on the bike and was pushing eighty when he pulled onto the two lane road. Fortunately, the road was pretty deserted and what little traffic Ron encountered got out of his way at the sound the motorcycle's siren.

Old County Road was extremely straight and flat for Middleton, and gave the teen hero a far view of the road ahead. It didn't take long before he caught sight of Draken on the horizon, and he let the throttle on his bike open as much as it would go to quickly cover the gap between the two vehicles.

As Ron was closing the gap on Draken, Rufus, who had been tucked away in the teen's pocket, felt his curiosity get the better of him. Usually, the naked mole rat was content to wait in his owner's pocket during a mission until called upon to perform some task. But he had felt like he and Ron were moving really fast and wanted to get a better look at what was going on. The little guy unbuttoned the pocket his was in, open the flap, and stuck his head out.

Rufus was clearly not prepared for the assault that the ninety plus mile an hour wind made on his tiny body. The wind quickly knocked Rufus out of Ron's pocket and only the lightning reflexes of the smallest member of Team Possible allowed him to grab onto the edge of the pocket, saving his life. 

His terror at the maximum, Rufus began screaming as loudly as he could to get Ron's attention. His owner, however, had placed his full attention on catching up to the hover car; racing down a country road at close to a hundred required everything he had not to wipe out and get himself killed. Yet, even over the roar of the wind and the whine of the engine, the hero began to hear a faint squeaking sound coming from what sounded like the exhaust system. He didn't give it a second thought but as the high-pitched squeaking continued to get louder, Ron began to wonder if there wasn't a problem with his bike.

Not slowing down for even a second, the blonde turned his head over his right shoulder to take a look at the rear of the bike and his heart stopped. There, clutching to his pants for dear life, was his second closest friend in the world. Using his knees for balance, he let go of the handlebars and desperately reached for his pet. Ron, however, was just a split second too late as Rufus' grip let go and the teen hero could only watch in total horror as his friend went sailing off into space.

The blonde's world shattered in a split second as he watched Rufus's body first take flight into the air and then begin its rapid descent towards certain death. As absolutely painful as it was to watch, Ron's entire focus was on his friend, as he let Draken, the mission, and even the fact that he was on a motorcycle going well in excess of the speed limit slip from his mind. Which was why he hadn't noticed the other police motorcycle that had been speeding up Old County Road behind him.

Rufus' savior came in the form of one Lieutenant Daniel Riverez. When the Lieutenant was first starting out in the Middleton Police force, he was assigned to the motorcycle squad. It was his distinction for five years as a motorcycle cop that first got him noticed by the brass and started him up the career ladder and despite the fact that he hadn't been on a Harley in over seven years, all his training came back to him that night. When he saw Ron take off on the police bike into the night, the Lieutenant made the decision that he couldn't simply stand by and watch Ron leave with police property. So, he jumped on the other bike that was at the scene and followed the blonde teenager.

Because he was following Ron, the Lieutenant was in position to grab Rufus with his left hand a few inches before he hit the pavement and save his life. The cop then brought the naked mole rat up to his chest, unbuttoned his left breast pocket, and slipped Ron's pet inside, away from any further danger. The grateful teen flashed Riverez a huge smile and gave him a thumbs up, but the Lieutenant merely pointed in front of Ron, beginning his attention back on Draken.

As the two motorcycles got closer to the hover car, its occupant, who had just been thinking how easy his getaway was going, began to take notice of the siren coming from Ron's bike. Taking his own sweet time, the mad scientist eased up out of the reclining position he was in, allowed himself a good stretch, and then finally turned around to see what all the fuss was about.

Predictably, Draken panicked once he realized he was being chased. He slammed the hover car into high gear, but it was never meant to go very fast and quickly hit its top speed of sixty-five miles per hour. But the bikes were much faster than the car was and he watched in growing anxiety as the motorcycles rapidly closed in on him. Had he thought about it, he could have eased off the throttle and gained some altitude to put him out of the reach of his pursuers; the faster the hover car was going, the lower it needed to be to the ground. 

That thought never occurred to Draken, but another one did. As he was staring out the back of the flying vehicle, he realized that it was armed with a laser cannon that was mounted on the back. By this time, the motorcycles were well within the range of the laser. The villain put the car on auto-pilot, activated the cannon, and took aim at the closer of the two bikes.

Ron was getting closer to Draken but was still too far away to make out distinct features on the car, which is why he didn't see Draken bring the laser on line. But the teen did notice the small red light that began to emanate from the back of the hover car and Ron guessed correctly that something was about to happen; he just didn't know what. 

He didn't have to wait long to find out. A moment after the blonde noticed the light, Draken fired his first shot at Ron. Fortunately, he was just as bad at using the laser cannon as he was at taking over the world. The shot missed both motorcycles, racing right between them and struck the asphalt, leaving behind a fair sized crater in the smooth road. 

The mad genius continued the precise aiming method for awhile, but gave it up when he realized that now that his pursuers were expecting his laser shots, they were able to easily dodge them. So, as his anger at not being able to hit them rose, he decided upon a different tactic: rapid scattered firing.

This turned out to be a much bigger problem than the specific shots were. Dodging one was easy to do, but with Draken firing off so many at them, as they would swerve around one, another would take its place and then another. Both men were good, but they couldn't avoid that many blasts forever.

Riverez was the first to get hit. He didn't take a direct shot but Draken managed to hit the road a few inches in front of the Lieutenant's bike leaving a sizeable pothole which the cop could not avoid. His motorcycle going in excess of a hundred, the ragged edges of the crater in the road surface efficiently tore the front tire to shreds. If it wasn't for his many years of experience and his training in offensive motorcycle driving, the Lieutenant surely would have lost control and skidded out. But, the man had been in similar situations in the past and was able to bring the violently shaking bike under control before veering off the woods on the side of the road.

Ron, who was in front of Riverez at the time, didn't see what had happened to the Lieutenant but he heard the loud bang when his front tire blew out. The teen looked back over his shoulder to see where the noise had come from just in time to see the other bike disappear into the trees. Quickly weighing his two choices of stopping to help or continue chasing Draken, the blonde muttered a curse under his breath before easing up on the throttle to head back and see if everyone was alright. The last sight Ron had of Draken was the deranged man, his blue face clearly visible in the moonlight, laughing at him.

***

While Ron was busy on his motorcycle adventure chasing Draken down on the streets of Middleton, Kim was having her own little adventure chasing down Shego in the air over Middleton. Once it had been decided that she would go after Shego while Ron went after Draken, Kim forced any thoughts about the blue skinned scientist and how Ron was going to go after him out of her mind and concentrated on her part of the plan. 

Kim Possible, the girl who could do anything, came to the conclusion that, while she probably could pilot the Global Justice jet that she was now running towards at full speed, why take the chance when she had an experienced pilot at her disposal? The pilot, a woman in her early fifties who simply went by her call sign Arrowhead, was standing at the bottom of the lowered entrance ramp when the redhead came running up.

"What's going on?" she asked the teen hero casually. Arrowhead was a pilot, not a field agent like Kim, and so she preferred to stay with her jet instead of going up front where the action was.

"Trouble," the redhead replied without breaking her stride. She ignored the confused look Arrowhead was giving her as she ran up the entrance ramp and into the body of the jet.

The pilot was confused by what her passenger meant by 'Trouble'. _"If there's something going on, what the hell is Kim Possible doing getting back on the jet? And where is her sidekick, what's-his-name?"_ the elder woman wondered. She shrugged it off, figuring that Kim was a pro who knew what she was doing, and turned to head up the ramp behind her.

The GJ pilot was about to ask the teen what her plan was when she realized that the passenger section of the jet that she was walking through was empty. There was only one other place in the jet that Kim could be, and a flash of annoyance crossed her face. The cockpit was reserved for those who knew how to handle the jet, not the field agents that were shuttled around by them.

Kim, however, didn't consider herself a passenger for this flight. She was going to have to track down Shego in her jet and she wasn't going to sit in back and let someone else have all the fun. So, after she entered the jet, the redhead headed right past the seating in back towards the front of the plane, sat down in the co-pilot's seat, and began to strap herself in. 

When Arrowhead entered the cockpit, she saw that Kim had already strapped herself in and was running through various pre-flight checks. She gave the teen a look that conveyed a mixture of displeasure at her presence and confusion at what she was doing there. When the Global Justice pilot stepped forward to take her seat on Kim's left, the teen hero caught the look in Arrowhead's eye and began to explain what was going on.

"Shego is escaping in a jet with stolen military hardware. We're going to track her down and follow her to her hideout, then call for backup. Normally, I wouldn't give chase like this now that she's in a civilian area to avoid any further danger to innocent bystanders, but she's got a hostage."

Arrowhead may have been just a pilot, but every member of Global Justice had heard of Shego at some point and just how dangerous she could be and the idea of that woman having a hostage sent a shiver down her spine. Without another word, the GJ pilot slipped into the pilot's seat, secured her flight harness, and engaged the engines. After a brief moment, she pulled back on the yoke to begin their ascent, leveled the jet off just a few feet about the tree line, turned the engines ninety degrees for forward flight, and began their pursuit.

Kim knew which direction Shego had taken off in, but, given the speed and range of her jet and the five minute head start, the villainess could have gotten off to anywhere. But the heroine knew someone that she was sure that Shego's jet couldn't hide from. She once again pulled the small communications device from a pocket in her cargos and thumbed the button to get in touch with Wade. Seeing her friend's face, she didn't waste any time and got straight to the matter at hand.

"Wade, Shego just escaped from the research complex in a jet. I need you to get a lock on her position so that we can follow her back to her lair." 

Kim watched as the tech master began to furiously pound away at his keyboard, hacking layer upon layer of encryption until he had broken into a Global Justice mainframe. Calling up the various satellite subroutines, he selected the GJ spy satellite that was in geo-synchronous orbit over the Western United States. From there, it was an easy task to cross reference any object the satellite picked up that could possibly be a jet to an FAA database of all know air routes. When he was done eliminating anything heading along an established route, Wade was left with only one aircraft, approximately ten miles from Kim's present position. And he was able to do all that in under a minute.

"Kim, Shego has headed North towards the mountains. If you plug the Kimmunicator directly into the GJ jet, I can overlay her position onto the onboard radar."

"Ah, thanks Wade, you continue to rock," Kim smiled at her friend. She then pulled the access cable out of the bottom of the Kimmunicator and, after finding the correct port on the instrument panel, plugged it into the jet. Instantly, a small dot appeared on the green monotone radar screen that sat in between the two seats of the cockpit, along with the relative heading and speed of the aircraft. Arrowhead quickly adjusted her flight path to intercept the target, bringing the jet to near supersonic speeds. 

"Ya know, Kim," the pilot stated after giving another look at the radar screen, "Shego seems to be taking her time. I saw the jet that she's driving, and it can do a hell of a lot more than 120 knots."

The redhead considered this for a moment and then smiled. "That's because she thinks she's already gotten away with it. I'm kinda disappointed, I expected more from Shego. Oh, well, it'll be all that more of a surprise when a hundred GJ agents come knocking at her door."

Yet, while Kim was underestimating Shego just as Shego had underestimated Kim, the brunette was suddenly clued into the fact that she was being followed by her radar systems. The Global Justice jet that Kim was riding in, despite being a troop transport, had been outfitted with the latest in radar jamming equipment as a preventive measure against surface to air and air-to-air missiles. Both Kim and Arrowhead knew this, which was why they were confident in their ability to get close to the villainess without being detected.

Unfortunately, what the GJ jet had not been designed to do, unlike the military's B-2 and F-117, and what its two occupants failed to consider, was that a jet streaking across the night sky at 550 knots creates quite a heat signature. In fact, it created a large enough heat signature for the sensors that Shego had built into her jet to pick up. The sensors relayed their information to the jet's computer for analysis, who then decided that the very hot object that was rapidly approaching the jet was something that the pilot should know about.

Which was why a blinking red light suddenly appeared on the instrument panel in Shego's jet. Just as Kim had guessed, the brunette had been lost in her own little world, fully believing that she had left Team Possible well behind. When the alarm went off, however, it snapped her back to really. She quickly checked her radar and, noticing nothing within a twenty-five mile radius, switched to thermal mode. Suddenly, the heat signature of a Global Justice jet appeared about three-quarter miles behind her, matching her speed and heading. 

After mumbling an expletive under her breath, the brunette decided to try and lose her pursuers in the mountain range instead of turning and fighting; she wasn't sure what kind of weapons the GJ jet had, but she knew that she only had one and using it took up a lot of her resources. So, her plan of action decided, she opened the throttle and her jet went screaming into the dangerous peaks of the mountains ahead.

By the time Shego was realizing that she had guests, the GJ jet was in visual range of its target. So far, the enemy had been making it very easy to trail them with a nice steady flight path and slow speed. Kim was just thinking about what a marvel the GJ jet was when she noticed the cobalt blue jet Shego was in rapidly increase speed and change its heading towards the mountain range.

"Looks like we've been discovered," Kim commented to Arrowhead. "Think you can follow her in between the mountains?"

The elder female gave the heroine a broad smile before replying, "In my sleep." While Shego's jet had a higher top speed than Arrowhead's, the Global Justice jet had a greater fuel capacity and therefore its pilot could afford to spend more time in an afterburn than Shego. Knowing she was going to need every ounce of her skill, Arrowhead leaned forward slightly, hit the throttle once more, and took off after the other jet. 

Knowing that she couldn't outrun the other jet, Shego began a series of complex maneuvers once she was among the mountain peaks. Slowing her speed, she first brought the GJ jet in real close then turned, heading straight into a valley with peaks rising up on both sides of her. Shego was well acquainted with this mountain; Draken had had quite a number of his lairs located here over the years. Thus, she knew about the double sharp turns that were coming up. What she was hoping was that the other pilot did not.

Arrowhead was following Shego's jet quite closely (_"A little too close," _Kim thought), but even still, it's pretty hard to miss the mountain that was looming in their path. The veteran pilot thought she had Shego's plan all worked out, knowing that her opponent would break to her left at the last second and follow the valley hoping that the GJ jet would react too late crash into the mountain. So, Arrowhead was not surprised in the least when the blue jet in front of her broke to the left and the pilot was ready to make the same maneuver. She slowed up just a touch, rolled the jet to the left, eased into the turn, and began to level off. 

What the two passengers in the Global Justice jet saw next almost stopped their hearts. Apparently hidden by the larger peaks surrounding it was a much smaller mountain peak about a five hundred yards after the first turn in the valley. And the Global Justice jet was headed right for it.

_"So this is what she was planning," _Arrowhead thought. _"Cleaver girl."_ The veteran pilot allowed herself only a split second of surprised panic before her instinct took over. She rolled the jet to the right this time and yanked back on the yoke to get some altitude, aiming to miss the peak by going around the top of it. They made it, but not before trimming the tops of several trees in the process.

While Kim was struggling to bring her heart back under control, Shego was laughing hysterically. She knew that the GJ jet hadn't hit the mountain (the lack of an explosion clued her in), but she was confident that she had shook her tail. Now, Shego just wanted to get the hell out of there as fast as she could before someone else came along. So, the villainess brought her jet up out of the valley she was in and headed for home. Shego once again became lost in her own self-congratulatory world when her radar indicator once again lit up.  

The one thing that Shego wasn't going to be able to shake was the Global Justice satellite that was keeping a close eye on her. The entire time since acquiring Shego's jet, Wade had been connected to the GJ jet via the Kimmunicator and continued to provide the feed from the hacked satellite. It took a moment for Arrowhead to bring the jet back under control, but once she did, she quickly turned into an intercept heading and punched it.

Shego let out a low growl as her pursuers closed in once again and was preparing to dip a second time into the valley when her onboard computer let her know that she had another problem: low fuel. Between her unshakable foe and her rapidly consumed fuel supply, it began apparent that the only way to get away was to use her secret weapon. She didn't like to use it and avoided it at all cost as the price for even one shot was a high one, but after quickly taking stock of her situation, she didn't see that she had any choice. 

The decision having been made, she went to work making it happen. It required getting the GJ jet in close, down to within a few hundred yards, so she increased her speed, knowing that the GJ jet would match it. Next, she flipped a switch that opened a small hatch in the underbelly of the jet and from this opening, a small laser-like device dropped down. Shego punched in several commands into the computer, and the laser swiveled around, coming to rest on the jet that was coming up fast. Now all that was left to do was the part that Shego dreaded the most, the painful part. 

She switched the jet to autopilot and began to concentrate her focus. As she focused, she closed her eyes and lit her right hand with the plasma energy gifted to her by the rogue comet. Shego had learned over the years that she could call forth her energy to varying degrees, and if she concentrated, she could bring all the power she had into a single point on her body. The brunette could feel the power collecting in her right hand. The more she concentrated, the weaker she felt and her hand began to ache under the stress of all that power. When she felt that she had built up as much as she could, Shego dropped the throttle to rapidly decrease her speed with her left hand and jammed her super charged right hand into a specially designed receptacle that was built into the cockpit.

The special device that Shego had built into her jet was similar to a laser, except that instead of collecting and concentration light energy, it collected and concentrated her plasma energy. Through a series of brilliant engineering that the brunette still couldn't believe that Draken came up with, she could increase the power of her blasts twenty times over, more than enough to blast that Global Justice jet and whoever was in it to kingdom come.

And she probably would have succeeded in vaporizing the cockpit of the GJ jet if it hadn't been for the quick reflexes of Arrowhead. Both women watched as what they thought was a laser descend from the cobalt jet. They were once again racing at near mach speeds but the pilot was keeping a safer distance this time. She tensed up slightly at the sight of the laser, wanting to be ready in case anything was to happen. But as several minutes passed and nothing happened, the two women began to wonder just what Shego was up to when the brunette made her move. 

They saw the villainess' jet lose its speed in a heartbeat, closing the gap between the two of them down to just a few hundred yards. While Arrowhead was busy adjusting her speed to match so as not to ram into Shego's jet, Kim noticed a strange buildup of green light in the laser-like device. _"Funny, that looks a lot like Shego's green energy," _Kim thought a second before the plasma gun fired. 

She only took her eyes off the sky in front of her for a moment to check her air speed, but that's all the time the device needed to fire off its blast. When the pilot looked back up, she saw that there was some strange green projectile heading right at her cockpit. Her lighting quick reflexes kicking in, Arrowhead stomped on the rudder and yanked the yoke in a desperate attempt to bring the plane down and to the left of the blast. But it wasn't fast enough.

Instead of hitting the cockpit, Shego's plasma hit the number two engine on the right wing dead on. The complex combination of moving metal was ripped violently apart as green plasma reacted badly with jet fuel. The sudden loss of power on its right side caused the jet to lurch back to its right, slamming Kim into the fuselage and throwing Arrowhead from her seat, knocking her out cold. It took a moment for the redhead to clear her head, but once she did, she quickly assessed her situation and decided that it was time to leave the jet behind. 

Fighting against the violent shuddering of the jet as it screamed towards the earth below, Kim quickly disconnected the Kimmunicator from the jet's computer and pocketed it. She then reached behind her seat to the overlooked brown backpack that she had placed there earlier and strapped it on. Then, making sure she had a solid grip on the now unconscious Arrowhead, the redhead climbed out of the now downward angled cockpit into the passenger cabin, found the nearest exit from the jet, opened it and jumped.

The teenaged heroine waited until the wind resistance from her body put a safe distance between her and the fatally injured craft before she transferred her passenger over her right shoulder. This freed her left hand, which she used to reach back and pull the ripcord that was attached to her backpack, causing the jet pack's initiation routine to start. Two wings ripped through the sides of the brown canvas while the thruster burst out the back. A tiny arm carefully placed a helmet and visor over the head of the jetpack's owner, which caused Kim to wince as it made rough contact with the gash on her forehead. Then suddenly the redhead felt herself jerk to a stop and begin to rise as the thruster came online and gave the pair of women flight.

Kim brought Arrowhead down off her shoulder so that she could get a better grip on the pilot. She was putting as much distance between her and the GJ jet when it finally lost its contest with gravity and hit the side of one of the mountain peaks, creating a fireball that could be seen for miles. 

The shock wave from all the exploding jet fuel bantered Kim around for awhile, but she was able to keep herself aloft. Spying a clearing among the trees, the teen began a controlled descent towards it to make a safe landing. Using both her years of cheerleading and her experience with the jet pack, Kim landed gracefully, bringing both herself and her pilot to the ground in one piece. 

She gently placed the still unconscious Global Justice veteran on the ground and shrugged off the now useless jetpack. Checking to make sure that Arrowhead was all right and satisfied that the elder woman was, she pulled out her Kimmunicator and contacted Wade for a rescue. Her tech guy and friend told her that he would have a helicopter there ASAP and to just sit tight, then he blinked off the screen as the Kimmunicator began giving off a faint beep.

_"Must be the homing signal," _Kim thought dimly as she stared at the now dark screen. She looked up into the night sky, just now realizing the chill in the early spring air. She sat down on the rocky soil trying to get comfortable and began to think about what she was supposed to be doing just then. She tried to guess at the time and figured that she and Ron would have gotten out of the movie by now and began giggling slightly with the sudden realization that the two of them probably would be engaged in activities that would have caused her father to either have a heart attack or give Ron one. But the moment passed as she realized that she wasn't with her love but out in a cold, dark field in the Middleton Mountains and she began to get a little depressed. She looked once again at the stars as Shego's jet streaked overhead towards the horizon.

Kim sighed at the sight, saying to no one in particular, "The perfect end to the perfect day." 


	7. Chapter 6: Damage Control

Note: Please see the foreword for updated Author's Notes

_Chapter 6: Damage Control_

The view from the helicopter was simply breathtaking. They were cruising at about a thousand feet over the Middleton Mountains, cutting through the still night air like a blade, giving the passengers a look at the horizon and the glow from downtown Middleton. It was quite the picturesque scene, which was nevertheless completely lost on the lone occupant of the helicopter that was still conscious.

Kim was staring out the window, watching the landscape zip by at several hundred knots but not registering a single image. The redhead heroine was completely lost in her thoughts, which centered mostly on her complete disaster of a day. Most of it she was able to simply dismiss as the hazards of being a teenager in high school. The whole Bonnie-Tara situation and the blown date with Ron were bitter pills to swallow, but in the end, neither threatened national security in the slightest way. _"Although if I don't get some alone time with Ron in the near feature, I might become a threat to national security," _she thought, as a faint smile crossed her lips.

No, what really had the teen torqued was the fact that she and Ron had failed to stop Draken and Shego from getting away with the Mirage. She wasn't used to failing and, even in those few instances where the villains had gotten away, she was always able to go after them herself and fix her mistake. But she doubted that she was going to the chance this time. With the loss of a multi-million dollar research project and the kidnapping of a leading military scientist, Kim was pretty sure that both the military and Global Justice would be assigning a number of agents to this case, in addition to the FBI and NSA, just to name a few.

It was no use worrying over it, however. What would come, would come, and she was sure that after tonight's events, a firestorm was awaiting her when she got back to the Photonic Imaging and Concealment Lab. The redhead estimated that she had about five or ten minutes until they reached their destination, so she leaned back, closed her eyes, and took advantage of the last moment of peace she would have for awhile.

Sure enough, a scant five minutes later, Kim felt the Global Justice helicopter slow its forward momentum and begin a gradual decent to the parking lot below. She noted with a hint of bitterness that their current method of transportation was landing in the exact same spot as their first method of transportation. _"Just one more thing that I'm going to have to justify," _Kim thought. _"How exactly do you explain the loss of $30 million in military hardware when you have nothing to show for it?_

The redhead was once again brought back from her inner thoughts by the slight jolt when the helicopter's wheels touched down on the asphalt. She took stock of her surroundings and immediately noticed the EMT crew that was standing by. When Wade had contacted the head of the Denver field office of Global Justice, which was the closest one to Middleton, the Special Agent-in-Charge dispatched the first available helicopter to Kim's location. Unfortunately, the particular model that he dispatched was too heavy and would have collapsed the rooftop helipad at the Middleton Trauma Center. Nobody realized this, however, until the pilot called ahead to the triage nurse on duty that night and was informed that they couldn't land. So, because Arrowhead's injuries weren't life threatening, the decision was made to reroute the helicopter back to PICL where an EMT team would be standing by.

Kim heard the whine of the engine begin to slow and quiet and the steady whoosh of the rotors get more infrequent. She turned her head to take a look at the only other passenger on this flight, and was thankful that she was still out cold. Back on the mountain, Kim had had Wade perform a medical scan on her to make sure that she wasn't in any danger and all the genius could turn up was a concussion.

The heroine felt sorry for Arrowhead all of a sudden, realizing that as little as a few hours ago, the pilot was on a routine mission to move a GJ transport from their airfield in Oklahoma to their airfield in Northern California. Just a simple little hop and she would be at home, relaxing. Instead, she had been brought into a situation in which a transport plane had no business being in, and she had been placed there by her orders. Kim Possible might be able to do anything but one thing she was going to have to learn to live with if she was going to continue on her current crime fighting path was that sometimes people under her command were going to get hurt.

Still, as she watched the EMT's swing open the door to the helicopter and place Arrowhead on the awaiting stretcher, it was a new situation that she found herself in. Sure, she had gotten hurt plenty of times on missions and had landed in the hospital more than her fair share but she was the one who had taken on the risk. It was even a different feeling than when Ron got hurt on her orders; he knew the risks going into each mission and took them on voluntarily whereas Arrowhead wasn't field personnel. Maybe she could talk to Dr. Director about this, as Kim was sure that the head of Global Justice had been in her shoes a number of times.

"Ma'am, we're here," came the voice of the helicopter pilot from in front of her. The redhead realized with a start that she had been staring at the slowly receding sight of Arrowhead as she just sat there in the cabin of the aircraft. She turned to look at the source of the voice and blinked at him owlishly, silently wondering just what she should do now. The helicopter pilot simply looked back at her with a mixture of confusion and sympathy, the combination of which only served to depress Kim even more.

The heroine shook her head slightly, as much to clear the fog that had seemed to settle over her mind as it was to get her moving again. It was clear that the pilot wanted to get going again, probably to go home to see his wife and kids and despite how much she just wanted to sit there and be numb, it wasn't fair to the man. So, very slowly and reluctantly, Kim pushed herself off her seat and stepped out onto the asphalt. She took a few steps, turned to look once more at the pilot who shot her off a quick salute, gave him a small smile and a wave, and headed off into the parking lot in search of Captain Millar.

The first thing Kim noticed about her surroundings was that, while there was still a high level of activity around the PICL, the atmosphere was much less stressed. The cops knew that whatever danger there had been had passed and they seemed to be milling about, waiting for instructions as to what to do next. Several ambulances had arrived, although thankfully they had little to do beyond treated a few minor cuts and bruises and the Middleton Fire Department similarly had nothing to do. As the cheerleader was wandering through the various official vehicles that littered the parking lot, she glanced up and to her right and she paused to look at the spot where Shego had blasted her way out of the building. She suddenly felt so tired, just standing there and looking at the interruption in the wall, like the weight of the world was on her shoulders.

She was once again brought out of her thoughts when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She jumped slightly (she had been feeling a little jittery since she had landed on the side of the Middleton Mountains) and turned to see who it was that had gotten her attention. It was just another nameless, faceless police officer, one of the thousand that she had come across in her career. She was always polite to those in law enforcement, but had given up long ago trying to remember all of them. She tried to smile at this particularly young looking officer but couldn't seem to get her muscles to cooperate. Part of it was her extreme physical and emotional exhaustion and part of it was that she just didn't give a damn at the moment. On an intellectual level, she knew that wasn't the best attitude to have just then, but it was how she felt nonetheless.

"Are you okay, Ms. Possible?" the man asked her. His expression had started out as one of questioning but quickly changed to one of concern when he saw the gash that was on her forehead; at some point during the night, she had lost the makeshift bandage that Ron had placed over it. Kim blinked twice before clearing her throat and answering him.

"Yeah, I'm fine officer, just a little tired, that's all." This time she was able to flash him a smile, albeit a very weak one.

"That's a pretty nasty gash you've got there. Why don't you head on over to one of the EMT stations and get it checked out?" he asked her, all the time keeping his smile but looking at her skeptically.

A flash of annoyance ran through the heroine. She already had one mother and she sure as hell didn't need another one. The redhead was about to tell this noisy cop off when she realized that he was just trying to be helpful. She gave a single, silent, humorless chuckle at the foul mood that she was in and reminded herself to be careful not to bite someone's head off.

"Thanks officer, I think I'll do that. Where is it?

The officer pointed off to a corner of the parking lot where there was a concentration of ambulances. She looked over at them, turned back to the officer, gave him another smile, and then headed off in that direction. She wasn't in any real hurry and walked to her destination slowly, a woman without a mission or a purpose. She wasn't even sure why she was going to the ambulances in the first place; the cut on her forehead no longer bled and was now nothing more than a dull ache.

Still, she had nothing better to do at the moment and was convinced that any second now, someone was going to recognize her and summon her off to her debriefing. She wasn't really paying attention to anything, walking with her head pointed down and becoming lost once again in her self-pity, when she heard a very familiar male voice call out to her. The cheerleader stopped walking and looked up at the sound of her name, trying to find the source and her eyes rested upon the only thing she really wanted see just then.

Ron had been sitting on the edge of one of open ambulances but had risen once he saw Kim come into view. For a moment, all she did was take a good, long look at him. He seemed to be just as tired as she was, if not more so, but the key difference between his disposition and hers was that he was sporting a small smile for her. She suddenly realized that, while she prided herself on being an independent woman, every now and then all she wanted to do was to be wrapped up in his arms and comforted.

And that was exactly what happened. Her boyfriend, sensing the need in the girl that he had known for over thirteen years, closed the gap between the two of them and took her in his arms. Kim encircled her arms around the small of his back, pulling him in as tight as she could while burying her face in the nape of his neck. There were no tears (those were reserved for only the most private and vulnerable of moments when it was just the two of them) but he could feel the sadness radiating off of her, although he wasn't exactly sure why. But the reason didn't matter, and all he concerned himself with was reassuring his redhead that, no matter what, he would love her and be there for her.

The young couple was allowed to enjoy their personal yet public moment, where the entire world dropped away except for the sweet embrace of the other, when the inevitable call to duty came. It was personified in the form of Lieutenant Daniel Riverez. He had caught a glimpse of Kim as she was talking to one of his officers and was prepared to intercept her then, to shuttle her off to the debriefing, but when he caught sight of where she was headed, he paused. The young woman had been through enough tonight to earn a moment to herself before the circus started again, but now that moment was over and it was time to go back to work.

Kim and Ron reluctantly separated when the heard the gentle clearing of Riverez's throat. The blond could tell that there was nothing she wanted to do less than turn and acknowledge the police Lieutenant, but with an understanding smile from him and a resigned sigh from her, she swiveled her head to the right, dropping her hands to her sides, and gave the interloper a questioning look.

"Umm, look, some of the GJ brass just arrived and they want me to escort you to the debriefing. So, if you want to follow me..." he trailed off, turning away from the two heroes and heading towards his car.

A few minutes later, both members of Team Possible found themselves in the back of a Middleton black-and-white, cruising well above the posted speed limit as the cop car screamed its way towards some unknown destination. Not that the two passengers cared; Ron was staring blankly out the front of the car, his arm around Kim, who was resting her head on his shoulder. The short ride passed in total silence, with the exception of the blaring siren, so it was easy for the occupants to notice the increase in noise as they neared the end of the ride and their destination, the Middleton Police Headquarters.

The entire scene in front of the modest building could have rivaled the chaos at the Photonic Imaging and Concealment Lab. The front lawn and most of the street was crawling with reporters, and it appeared that it wasn't just the local affiliates that had a presence there. Kim looked out the window on her side of the car and she could see reporters from Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN as Riverez maneuvered the car past the swelling crowd and around to the back of the building. She guessed, correctly, that when the local stations heard over their police scanners that a theft had taken place at a high security military research lab, they quickly bumped it up to the national desks in New York. Right now, some 50 million Americans were discovering what Kim and Ron knew intimately. Team Possible, and by extension Global Justice, had failed.

Thankfully, the officers that had been assigned crowd control were doing their jobs perfectly and there wasn't a reporter in sight when the two teens stepped out of the cop car and walked in the back entrance of the MPD building. First stop was Riverez's own office, where he told the two to wait while he went to see what was going on. The Lieutenant returned a few minutes later, instructing the two members of Team Possible to follow him. They left the small officer and headed off down a series of hallways, all stuffed with various officers rushing around, performing their various tasks and it looked to Ron like the chief had called in every cop on the force for duty that night.

When the blond brought his attention back from taking in his surroundings to the matter at hand, he noticed that he was now in the part of the building that held the interrogation rooms. It wasn't a place that he had spent a lot of time in over the five plus years of his career, mainly because once he and Kim had caught the bad guy, they turned over the prosecution to the proper authorities. The entire situation was all the more foreboding now he was the one being interrogated.

"Okay, Ms. Possible, Room One, Mr. Stoppable, Room 2," the police Lieutenant informed his guests.

Kim hung back for just a second to watch her boyfriend disappear into his own interrogation room before twisting the knob on her own door and stepping through. It was exactly what the redhead was expecting. The entire room couldn't have been more than seven by twelve feet, painted in a faded lime green that was pealing in several places. The wall that was adjacent to the hallway contained a large, one-way mirror and there was a metal table with two chairs set in the center.

But her attention was focused on the man sitting in one of the chairs. He was an older gentleman, perhaps in his mid fifties, but still in good shape with salt and pepper hair and half glasses over his blue-grey eyes. He was dressed in a dark charcoal suit and he had an air of importance about him as he continued to examine the contents of the open folder in front of him. After a moment, Kim took a step towards the mystery man and opened her mouth to introduce herself but was cut off when the man raised his index finger in a gesture telling her to wait and keep quiet. Unfortunately, it also had the unintended effect of informing Kim that the man thought she was of little importance, instantly putting the girl in an annoyed state of mind.

He took his time finishing up while the heroine just stood there, her displeasure at being blown off quickly turning into anger, when the man finally motioned for Kim to take the seat opposite him. The redhead narrowed her eyes at him, as he didn't even have the common curtsey to look up from his reports to look at her, but decided that given her less than stellar performance that night, she wasn't in a position to really argue with him. So, she reluctantly pulled back the cool metal chair and sat down.

After another minute passed in silence, the man finally looked up from his work and at his guess. The expression that he wore was not one that read 'friend'; it was at best indifferent and at worst openly hostile. He removed his glasses revealing an unobstructed view at his narrowed eyes as he quickly assessed the redhead in front of him. It was clear by the silent, mirthless chuckle that he was not impressed by the freelance GJ agent and he was not shy about sharing that opinion with his guest, which severed to place an even greater amount of distrust and anger towards the man in Kim.

"My name is Spencer Frederickson. I am both the Deputy Director for Global Justice and the Director of Operations. My job here is to determine what happened at the Photonic Imaging and Concealment Lab tonight and why there is now a kidnapping and espionage case sitting here in front of me instead of two captured criminals," he informed her, all ready placing the blame for the incident at the PICL squarely on Team Possible's shoulders.

Upon hearing that Frederickson was with GJ, an amount of confusion crept into Kim. _"That's odd," _she thought. _"I always thought that GJ stood behind us but this guy seems pretty pissed. I wonder where Dr. Director is? I usually deal directly with her."_ The DDGJ seemed to anticipate her next question.

"The Director of Global Justice, Dr. Betty Director, is in a conference in Los Angles to assess that city's response plan to potential terrorist plots, so she asked me to step in and conduct this investigation. Now, why don't we start by you telling me what happened tonight."

It took the heroine a half hour to cover everything that she knew and she left nothing out, including how Shego had gotten the drop on her in the secret room and the destruction of a $30 million jet. The entire thing was difficult to relive, especially since her mistakes had caused someone under her command to be hospitalized. She made a mental note to go and visit Arrowhead in the hospital the next day to see how the woman was doing.

But while her thoughts centered on her own feelings over the mistakes made that night, the heroine completely missed the deepening frown and the ever-growing look of contempt that was Frederickson's expression. Quite frankly, he couldn't care less that she was only seventeen or that she felt bad about what had happened. In the end, Team Possible, the thorn in his side since he had taken over this job some three years ago, had fouled up royally. As Kim's tale wound ever closer to its conclusion, his thoughts turned more and more to the inevitable Senate hearings before the Select Committee on Intelligence. And they were an even less pleasant bunch of people to be around than he was.

When the cheerleader had finished recounting her tale, the DDGJ put down the pen he had been using to take notes with, sat back with arms crossed, and leveled his gaze at the woman across from him.

"Alright, Ms. Possible, there are just a few things I would like to clarify. When you were in Dr. Fedor's lab and had just discovered the holographic wall, why did you just enter the hidden room without making sure it was safe first?"

That certainly wasn't a question that Kim had been anticipating or one that she really had an answer to.

"Ah, I figured that Shego must have been knocked out when she didn't come charging back out of the room after me so I thought it was safe."

"So, you made a guess that you had knocked your opponent out simply because you had thrown her through a _holographic_ wall?" Frederickson inquired incredulously.

"Well, yeah, I guess so..." Kim replied, with a bit more hesitation in her voice as she did not like where this conversation was going.

"And it was this miscalculation that almost got you killed, isn't that correct?"

"I have no idea if it almost got me killed or not. After Shego got the drop on me, I was out of it until Ron woke me up."

"Ah, yes, lets turn our attention to Mr. Stoppable, shall we?" he changed directions while flipping to another part of his report.

Now Kim was completely on the defensive. Say what you want about her, but there was no way this suit was going to criticize her boyfriend and get away with it.

"What exactly about Ron do you want to know?" she asked, with more than a little hostility in her voice. But the DDGJ dismissed it with a wave of his hand.

"On second thought, we'll cover that later. Tell me why you felt it necessary to destroy a $30 million dollar piece of government equipment in an unauthorized pursuit over a civilian population," he commanded.

Now that pissed the redhead off.

"Look," she started, pointing a finger at the man, "I did not destroy the jet, Shego did, and as for why we were in pursuit, it was because I didn't think it was a good idea to give those two a hostage, any hostage, let alone a top military scientist."

"I can understand that, but why didn't you call the Denver field office and arrange proper transportation? The pilot, what's-her-name, Arrowhead is not trained as a combat fighter pilot and the jet that you were in was considerably less agile and maneuverable than your opponent's."

"It was a judgment call. I wanted to make sure that we had a good lock on Shego's position before we lost her entirely so that GJ could send in a team to extract the Doctor."

"And how exactly were you tracking the villainess?"

"Wade had a lock on her jet via a Global Justice satellite."

"So, there really was no need for you to go after Shego in the first place then, was there? I mean, if a ten year old can track her movements from his house in suburban Middleton, why go after her in our jet in the first place?"

For that, Kim had no response. It had seemed like the absolute logical choice at the time, to use any means necessary to go after Shego while she had the chance. But, after listening to Frederickson's line of questioning, she was beginning to have her doubts. Why hadn't she just let Wade keep an eye on Shego and call in the cavalry? It would have been a hell of a lot safer and there wouldn't be a Global Justice pilot in the ICU right now.

The DDGJ, correctly interpreting the heroine's silence as a lack of an appropriate answer, pressed on with his attack.

"Could it be, Ms. Possible, that you took off after Shego in the reckless manner in which you did out of some need for revenge?"

_"What?!"_ Kim was totally shocked by the accusation. She did the things she did because she believed that they were the best course of action at the time, not out of some desperate need to get one-up on her arch-foe. But Frederickson wasn't buying it.

"Come on, Ms. Possible. We both know that's what you wanted. She drew first blood, and you wanted some payback."

"No...," she stammered while shaking her head.

"You were beaten by her back in the lab."

"No...," she repeated over and over.

"You let her get away with the Mirage."

"No...," she wound not allow herself to believe that that was what had motivated her.

"And you were pissed because finally, Shego had won and you had lost and your ego just couldn't take it, could it?"

"No!' she all but screamed at the badgering attack of the agent in front of her.

"Tell me about your relationship with Ron Stoppable."

"Wha...?" she stammered. The older man was an expert interrogator, a skill that he had honed to razor sharp perfection in the thirty-some years he had spent s an agent of Global Justice. _"Keep 'em off balance. Press them in one direction, then slam on the brakes and switch gears. They never know what hit 'em, and they always slip up," _he remembered the words of his instructors at the academy. They were good lessons, and ones that he had learned well, as Kim Possible was finding out at the moment.

"You heard me. What is your relationship with Mr. Stoppable?"

"He's my best friend of fifteen years and my partner for over five."

Frederickson all ready knew that the two of them were seeing each other, and he was immensely surprised that she had left that fact out.

"Is that the entire extent of you relationship with him?"

Kim sighed. She had wanted to avoid bringing up the fact that she was dating Ron, not because she was ashamed of him or her love for him, but that it would lead to all sorts of uncomfortable questions, but it seemed as though this agent was well aware of the new dimension that their friendship had taken on in the last several weeks. She thought about lying to him to protect a still somewhat fragile relationship yet, seeing as how her interrogator knew she would be lying, she told the truth.

"No, Ron and I are currently seeing each other."

"Romantically?" It was an unnecessary question, but one designed to upset the redhead and keep her off balance.

"Yes, romantically," she replied, the annoyance evident in her voice.

"Don't you think that that is a huge conflict of interest, with him being both your partner and your lover?"

"No, I don't," she snapped back.

"So, if there ever came a time when it meant saving the world or saving your lover, which would you choose?"

It was the question that she had been dreading the most since she had fallen for her best friend. Which would she choose? She had thought a lot about it and, in the end, it was a question that had taken less than a second to answer, but it wasn't the answer that GJ would want to hear. She would save Ron. There was no question, no hesitation, no doubt in her mind that, while it may haunt her for the rest of her days, she would easily let millions die if it meant saving the one she loved.

But she couldn't tell him that. They'd disband Team Possible in a heartbeat. So, she chose the only option available to her. She kept quiet. Which, of course, was what Frederickson was expecting.

"All right, Ms. Possible, you don't have to answer. I think we both know the answer anyway, and God help us if you do ever find yourself in such a position. We're done here, but if there is a lesson to be learned from his debacle, it's that you allow your emotions to override your judgment. It was your rage and jealousy that helped Shego escape tonight and it will be your feelings for Mr. Stoppable that will eventually endanger us all. Think about that the next time Wade calls you in on another mission."

With that, he closed the file that had been sitting in front of him and placed it in a black leather briefcase that he retrieved from the floor beneath him. While he gathered up his things, Kim just sat there, not really paying attention to the GJ agent, absorbed in her thoughts. She thought his characterization of her motives that night were completely off base, and wanted desperately to argue the point with the man, but she knew she couldn't because at least part of what he was telling her was the truth. And it was something that she was going to have to talk to Ron about.

She wasn't brought out of her thoughts until she heard the creaking of the door to the interrogation room opening. Kim looked over her shoulder towards the sound and noticed that Fredrickson was all ready half way out the room when he turned back.

"The officer outside will escort you to one of the offices here. Mr. Stoppable is still wrapping up his debriefing and will along shortly. Goodnight," he informed her curtly and moved to exit into the hallway.

"Wait," Kim called out just before he disappeared. "Arrowhead. How is she?"

The DDGJ turned only his head to the right, and mumbled out, "She's stable and resting comfortably at Middleton Trauma." Then he shut the door, leaving Kim alone with her thoughts.

* * *

Ron wasn't exactly thrilled with the prospect of separate debriefings; he had seen enough cop shows to know that the first thing they did was split everyone up so that they could play one suspect off the other and the blond had a feeling that given all that had gone wrong that night, people would be looking to save their rears and find a scapegoat. Who better than the two agents that had fouled up the operation in the first place?

But, while he was going to keep his guard up, he wouldn't jump to any rash conclusions about his interrogator. So, the teen hero turned the knob and stepped into the small room. It was identical to the one that Kim currently found herself in, except that there was a different, yet no less friendly, man sitting down at the dull grey table. He was a portly man, easily pushing 300 pounds, and would have been thrown off the force by now if it weren't for the fact that he was the chief of police. Chief Luke Matthews was dressed in a cheep light grey suit whose white shirt was about a size too small and was straining against its buttons. And the man was sweating profusely, despite the air conditioning that ran throughout the station.

"Sit," he ordered the younger man in a voice that still contained some of the Southern twang it had picked up from his childhood in Alabama. Ron couldn't have cared less about the accent but the implication in his tone was that the hero was somehow his inferior. That tactic hadn't worked very well when Will Du had tried it two years ago and it certainly wasn't going to work now. The blond complied, however, more out of a sense that it was in his best interest not to upset the Chief of Police rather than the man's attempt at intimidation.

"Alright, boy, start talkin'."

_"How in the hell did this man raise the nice, sweet cheerleader that I know? If anything, he should be Bon-Bon's father,"_ Ron thought. Luke Matthews was the father of Tara Matthews, the blonde cheerleader that Ron had had a crush on in their sophomore year. But, past crushes aside, he still had a debriefing to get through, and it looked like it was going to be a rather unpleasant one at that. Besides, he had a girlfriend waiting for him when he was done.

So, he launched into his version of events. Like Kim, he left nothing out from the decision to go find his girlfriend instead of stopping the villains to his barking orders over an open frequency at his men to theft and destruction of police property, namely one police motorcycle. It seemed that although the bike that was ruined was actually driven by Riverez, they were still blaming him for it. At least it was only $30,000 instead of $30 million like the jet.

"Just who in the hell do you think you are?" the chief asked when Ron was done with his tale.

"Um, excuse me?"

"You heard me. Who gave you the authority to order my officers around? Who gave you the authority to take that motorcycle?"

That did it. All the anger that he had felt towards the Middleton PD over the years, all the put downs, and especially the actions of one Lieutenant that night came bubbling to the surface. Perhaps if he had the time to think it over, he would have realized that his next action wasn't the brightest of moves. But everything that had happened had created a cold fire deep within the man, a fire that had now been sparked to a white-hot intensity by Chief Matthews's boorish questions. So, instead of staying calm and answering the questions rationally, the teen lashed back.

"Oh, I don't know, perhaps it was the same person who gave your Lieutenant the authority to shoot at my partner without making sure that she was one of the good guys!"

The Chief just dismissed the accusation with a wave of his hand.

"Bah, that was a clean shoot. Besides, it was the girl's fault anyway."

"The girl's fault..." he managed to stammer. Rage went coursing through his system like some kind of narcotic, but one thought managed to pierce the fog of irrationality that was quickly setting in, and voiced it.

"The girl has a name, and it is Ms. Possible. I would appreciate it if you would address her properly. I believe she has earned that right." It was more of a command than a request, as the low, dangerous way in which he spoke it testified to.

"Whatever, it still comes down to the fact that _Ms. Possible_ placed herself in that situation in the first place."

"So what you're saying is that people in this town have to be careful that they don't accidentally walk in front of a crazed cop with an itchy trigger finger? Otherwise it's their fault? Did I get that right, _Chief_?"

That hit a nerve. "Look, how dare you accuse me and my men of acting improperly? From where I'm sitting, its you who are in a heap of trouble."

"Trouble? What are you talking about, trouble?"

It was at this point that Matthews opened the folder sitting in front of him, flipping through its contents until he came upon what he was looking for.

"Well, lets see here, Mr. Stoppable. Why don't we start with obstruction of justice and interfering with a police investigation? Then, we can add on trespassing. Finally, we have theft of police property, destruction of police property, and grand theft auto. You are looking at over twenty years for this laundry list. What, no witty little comeback, _Mr. Stoppable_?"

Now there was another emotion that had been added to the mix of anger and hate that was swirling inside of Ron at the moment. Fear. It was starting to look like the Chief had found his sacrificial lamb and it was him. They would weave of story of selective fact and some proper spin and feed a story to the media of how it was the actions of one rogue GJ agent who flouted the law that caused the failure to apprehend the thieves at the PICL, despite the fact that it was surrounded by cops. When they were done with him, he'd be lucky to see sunlight again before his fortieth birthday.

This suspicion was confirmed when the next thing out of Matthews mouth was the Miranda rights. He then ordered Ron to stand up, which the blond complied with, mostly because he was in too much shock to argue with the stocky man. The Chief then walked around over to the teen's side of the table and in back of Ron, quickly grasping his right, hand, bringing it behind his back, and securing it in a set of handcuffs. He then repeated the process with his left hand and then roughly shoved the hero back down into his seat.

"Stay right there, I'll go get an officer to come get you and complete your booking," the Chief spat as his waddled over to the door. The man was just about to open it when it opened for him to reveal the figure of a man that Ron had never seen before. He was just about the opposite of Matthews, tall, lean, and looked like a man who wasn't to be messed with, but it didn't look like the Chief was picking up on his body language. Or maybe the man was just plain stupid.

"And who in the hell are you?" he asked the latest addition to the party.

"My name is Spencer Frederickson and I am the Deputy Director of Global Justice. I have orders from the Director herself to ensure that Mr. Stoppable is released from your custody when his debriefing is done without any charges."

"Ha," Matthews spat. "You may be some big shot out there in Washington, but around here, I call the shots. And young Mr. Stoppable has already been placed under arrest, so he's not going anywhere."

"I'm sorry you feel that way," Frederickson replied calmly and coolly, like a man who had all ready won the contest but his opponent didn't know it yet, raising his eyebrow just a bit. "There is just one other thing, however. You are not the last word when it comes to law enforcement in this town. The Governor of the State of Colorado is and I have a letter here that he drafted some fifteen minutes ago, at the behest of my Director, granting a full pardon to Mr. Stoppable here for any crime he may have committed in connection with the incident at the Photonic Imaging and Concealment Lab tonight."

At this, the DDGJ reached into the inner pocket of his suit jacket and produced a letter. It was a fax, but the chief could still easily recognize the Seal of the State of Colorado at the top and the signature of the Governor at the bottom. He had to read it twice to believe it, and even then he wasn't sure. What seventeen year old had enough clout to call in favors from on high? But, cut it anyway you wanted to, the letter amounted to a get-out-of-jail-free card. And it pissed him off.

"Son of a...," the man mumbled under his breath as he crushed the letter in his hands. He then stormed out of the interrogation room, yelling at the officer that was standing outside, "Get in there and release him. I'll be in my office."

By this time, Ron had turned around in his seat to get a better look at what was going on and he locked eyes with Frederickson. His savior did not seem to be pleased to be helping him out, however, and he wondered how badly Dr. Director had to twist his arm to get him to present that letter to the Chief.

"Look, Mr. Stoppable, I can't even begin to imagine what kind of friends you have made, but it doesn't change the fact that you and your _partner_ screwed up tonight. From now on, I'll be watching you two. Oh, and you girlfriend is waiting for you in Riverez's office," Frederickson informed the blond and then closed the door, leaving the young officer to free the rather confused teen hero. When she had left, Ron began to tub his wrists for a moment to get the circulation back and then left to go find the only person he really wanted to be with at that moment. His girlfriend.

* * *

The buzzing was beginning to irritate her. The brunette was quite content in her own little world of peaceful black where there was no Draken, with his insane ranting, no inane plot that was destined to fail, no stupid gadget to steal, no wasted money and no Kim Possible to defeat her again. In fact, it was one of the few moments in recent days that she could remember feeling happy, or at least content. Unfortunately, her blissful silence was being invaded by the shrill alarm of her jet and, try as she might, she simply could not block the noise out.

Shego's all ready sour expression turned to one of annoyance, as her brow furrowed and her frown deepened. She shook her head slightly and her eyelids began to flutter as the once peaceful form of the villainess began to stir. Suddenly, with a start, the brunette snapped open her eyes and inhaled sharply, the momentary disorientation that comes from awaking clouding her mind. Her jade eyes darted about the instruments of the cockpit as she was caught up in a mild panic. It took but a fraction of a second, and Shego realized that she was still in her jet that was on autopilot, but it was informing her that something was wrong.

She quickly found the source of the alarm; she was dangerously low on fuel and her reserves had crept down to a mere ten percent. She reached over and punched a few quick commands into her on-board computer, activating her global positioning system and locating her position. The villainess was pleased to see that the autopilot had placed her is a holding pattern over their mountain lair and it was a simple matter of deactivating the system and retaking control of the plane. She began to transmit the entry code and the concealed hanger door that was embedded into one of the mountains slowly opened.

Shego circled the peak once more allowing the hanger door to fully open before she brought her jet out of its circular pattern and angled it so that she was lined up with the runway. The brunette slowed her speed, adjusted her flaps, and lowered the jet to the asphalt below. Unfortunately, the plasma blast that she had used on the GJ jet that had been following her had taken a lot out of her and she lost her concentration at the last moment. The cobalt fighter jarred into the runway with such force as to snap the front landing gear, instantly sending the nose of the aircraft crashing down and scrapping along the floor of the hanger in a shower of sparks until came to a gradual halt a mere thirty meters from the far hanger wall.

In a heartbeat, dozens of henchmen were at the site of the crash. Most converged on the jet itself, dousing the entire front end of the fuselage with a fire suppressing foam while a smaller contingent was dispatched to the hanger doors to begin immediate repairs so that their lair would remain secret. Approximately five minutes later, after which time the head of the fire fighting crew informed Draken that there was no longer any danger of an explosion ripping through the hanger, he ordered his henchmen to pop the canopy and see to Shego's well being.

A moment after that, they had placed a mobile set of metal stairs next to the jet and were frantically working on opening the slightly damaged and therefore stuck canopy. As they were working, a visual inspection of the interior was made; the brunette woman was unconscious and had slumped forward in her seat, held in place by the flight harness that she was wearing. It took them a few minutes, but eventually the metal and glass enclosure swung open giving them access to the interior.

"Careful, you buffoons," Draken called out when he saw that his henchmen were successful. "Make sure to support her neck. The last thing we need is a crippled sidekick right now!"

The two henchmen who were attempting to remove the villainess as gently as possible looked at each. For a moment, just the briefest of moments, both of them though that their employer was showing some compassion towards his second in command, but they should have known better. It was a common belief among the worker bee's in the Draken organization that he kept her around only because she provided the necessary muscle to counter Kim Possible. And every one of them was expecting some sort of confrontation between the two, whether now or in the future.

But that was neither here nor there and at present they had a job to do. Careful not to injure her further, they pushed her back so that she was resting against the cockpit seat. A quick glance at her showed that the villainess had hit her hear rather forcefully against the instrument panel, as evidenced by the fair sized bump that was growing and the smattering of blood that was matting down her hair. The one closer to Shego placed two fingers at the crook where her neck met her jaw-line and, for the most part, was rather indifferent when he felt her slow but steady pulse.

But while they couldn't care less about her well-being, they also knew that they didn't stand a chance against Team Possible without her. Heck, most times even Shego wasn't up to the challenge but she was still the best opposition that they had to Kim Possible, so precautions must be taken to ensure that she was in peak fighting form. The henchmen unhooked her harness and, while the first one supported her head and grabbed her under her arms, the other took hold of her knees and they lifted her out of her jet.

Two other henchmen had brought a stretcher to the top of the stairs and the young woman was placed upon the brown canvas and brought down and away from the blue jet. Draken gave a terse order to have her taken to her quarters where he would be in in a minute to check on her. He was no medical doctor, as his doctorate was in robotics and not medicine, but having spent more than half his life running from the law, he had picked up enough skills to be a proficient healer.

The blue skinned scientist watched as the his two lackeys took his right hand woman away then turned his attention towards the injured plane in front of him. The first part of his plan had worked to almost perfection; in fact, if it weren't for this last little bit here, there wouldn't have been a single hitch in the night's activities. So why didn't he better? He should be gloating to everyone within earshot about how he beat Kim Possible and how his latest plan was in full swing. But he just couldn't bring himself to care at the moment.

Perhaps it was the fact that the manner in which he had won was not the best experience of his life. Sure, he had beaten the buffoon and some local cop, but he had been humiliated not once but three times at the military lab. And while he had become somewhat desensitized to the humiliation that Shego dealt to him on each mission, there was something different about this time. Before, no matter what happened, he was always the boss, always in charge. Yet tonight, a shift had taken place. Shego had stopped taking orders and started giving them and was what was disturbing him. Their relationship had always been a fragile one; his supplied the money and she supplied the skill. But, while there were other sources of money in the world, her fighting skill was easily the best on his side of the law.

The mad genius was brought out of his brooding by the sound of one of his minions calling out his name. He shifted his gaze from the nose of the wrecked jet to the offending henchman and refocused his eyes, giving the man a look that wilted him on the spot. As his employer's stare became full of even more malice, the henchman came to the realization that Draken was slowly building up to detonation, which was enough to allow him to overcome his fears and blurt out his question as to what to do with the other man in the jet.

"Take him to one of the holding cells. I'll deal with him later," the evil genius replied darkly, his anger all ready beginning to subside as a malevolent grin began to grace his features. And although his eyes followed the unconscious holographics expert as his henchmen removed him from the room with little care, he had allowed his mind to once again wander as to the glory of his plan. The blue skinned man became so caught up in his daydream that he didn't realize when his hand absently found its way into the front pocket of his lab coat where it fingered the object that would help enable him to achieve his second greatest ambition, the elimination of Kim Possible.

After several minutes of enjoying his insane fantasy, he was brought back to reality with the clanking of metal on concrete as one of his minions, who was working on repairing the crippled jet's cockpit, dropped a wrench to the ground below. His head snapped in the direction of the sound as his once unfocused eyes now sought out the offending noise. The scientist was able to quickly locate the metallic tool on the dull grey tarmac and brought his piercing gaze up to his lackey, who cringed under the unwanted attention from his employer.

His all ready disfigured face took on an even more horrific note as the villain bared his teeth in a snarl, followed closely by a low, almost feral growl. His fury once again began to build to the ranting point when he was reminded that this fool of a peon was inconsequential and that he had much work to do if he was to pull of the second part of his self proclaimed brilliant plan. With his snarl slowly changing to a joker-esque grin, the mad scientist turned to head back to his lab, a soft laugh escaping from deep within him that was no less malevolent for its muted tone.

* * *

It had been several hours since the crash and the raven-haired vixen could be found resting quite comfortably in her own bed deep within Draken's lair. She had woken up a few minutes ago naturally, without the dubious benefit of alarms or warnings or any other unnatural intrusion into her peace. She rolled over onto her back, her jade eyes finally opening as she let her unfocused gaze wander over the uneven rocky surface of her ceiling.

She had only lost her concentration for a moment, but her timing could not have been worse and all it took to turn the end of the perfect mission into a life threatening crash was that single moment. Her frown deepened, how could she have let it happen? The villainess was sure that she had been at the top of her game, firing on all cylinders. She has beaten back not only a squad of Marines but she had also dealt a wonderful blow to prefect little Kimmie.

And they had won! The brunette couldn't have cared less what it was that the moron wanted this time, as she knew that his plan would eventually fail, but despite the fact that Kimmie and what's-his-name were there, they were still able to get away with the Mirage. And while the small metallic device was even less interesting to her than stories of Draken's childhood, she was quite curious as to why her employer wanted to bring along the geek from the lab. They had never taken hostages before and the little blue man only kidnapped people for their knowledge. Could it be that Draken once again had no idea what it was that she had stolen for him?

If that was the case, then he had spent a lot of time researching his latest plot for nothing. The villainess knew that anything that was guarded by a platoon of Marines wasn't something that was likely to be openly talked about in those loser chat rooms that he hung out in. No, he had done some digging to come across the Mirage just like he had to find references to the Neutronalizer, another top-secret military project. Perhaps the thing had some sort of password to activate it? Or maybe Draken had no idea how to work the damn thing and needed the scientist's help to get it to work? If that was the case, then her employer was going to have to do some serious persuading to get their captive to open up, and that was her department.

Sighing, Shego flung back the covers to her bed and, quickly swinging her legs over the side, propped herself up into a seated position. It was a good thing that she had woken up to find herself still in her mission jumpsuit; if she had discovered that someone had stripped her down to her bare essentials, then Draken was going to be two henchmen short very quickly. She rubbed her face to rid herself of the last of the remaining cobwebs and pushed herself off the surface of her bed, heading towards her private bath. Ten minutes later, the raven haired beauty felt much better, the grimy feeling that comes when one first awakes gone and dressed in a fresh green and black jumpsuit.

The second in command then made her way from her small suite of rooms towards the command center of their current lair. It was still quite early (the clock in her room had read 4:20 am when she had gotten into the shower) and Shego really wasn't expecting to find anyone up at the moment except for the couple of lackeys that were manning the graveyard shift. She was in no hurry, and in fact was just trying to kill some time with no real interest in what was going on just then, and so it was several minutes before she strolled up to the automatic doors at the heart of the lair and walked in.

The brunette instantly knew that something was amiss. The lighting in the large room was mostly off which even for the late shift was unusual, and all the terminals were off with the exception of Draken's personal workstation. She could see by the light of the gigantic fifty-foot screen that there was no one else in the room but her and the person who was sitting in her employer's oversized chair. The chair was large and made of a rich black leather and was just gaudy enough to show everyone in the room who was in charge. And who had the biggest ego to stroke.

But the real question was who was in the chair. It was currently turned away from her towards the video display, hiding the identity of its occupant from the evil vixen. She hoped that it wasn't one of the henchmen; not that she cared if one of those rejects sat in Draken's personal chair but she really didn't want to have to put up with one of his rants early in the morning or at any time of day for that matter.

Not really angry, but more exasperated at the stupidity of the actions of one of the lackeys, she took a few steps towards the only other person in the room, crossing half the distance before she addressed him.

"Alright, whoever you are, Dr. D's not going to like finding out that someone sat in his chair. So, why don't you do me and your health a favor and get up now," she commanded, with only the slightest trace of frustration in her voice.

"Why, Shego, I wasn't aware that you were so touchy over making sure no one sat in my chair but me. Thank you."

The response surprised her. She instantly recognized the voice as Draken's but she was sure that he would have turned and said something when she had entered the room, either to gloat or rant, neither of which the villainess wanted to hear. But complete silence was not something she was expecting from her boss and she had assumed, incorrectly it now seemed, that he was not the occupant of the chair. But, years of training and living with the blue skinned man had trained her to quickly recover from such surprises and it took but a second for her to slip once again into her supremely arrogant facade that she used on him.

"Ooooh, good one, Dr. D. You _really_ sacred me there. Now, what's with all the lights being out? And what are you still doing up at this hour?"

"My, my, it seems someone is a little cranky after her little nap. For you information, I was supervising the repairs to the jet that was damaged tonight," he retorted. It wasn't often that the mad genius could be sardonic with his 'sidekick', but when it became necessary to spend a few million to fix a jet that she had damaged, he felt he could be a little more sarcastic with his employee today.

Shego felt a twinge of anger and embarrassment when Draken pointed out her mistake to her. Anger at herself for her mistake and embarrassment over the stupidity of it. And a little anger at her boss just because. But it was irrelevant and she was positive that he had not cleared the command center nor spent hours pouring over his console watching his minions repair her jet. So, she questioned him on it.

"You mean to tell me that you have spent hours watching those buffoons fix the jet? You need to get a life Dr. D," she baited him.

It worked. "Ah, that's only one of the many things I have been doing while you recovered in you room. Mostly, I was playing with my new toy, the Mirage," he said, with a tone of almost reverence for his latest prize. The small metallic box was sitting on the panel in front of him and just to his right so that it was in Shego line of sight. The villainess watched as the madman reached out with his small, girlish hand and picked up the device, turning it over so that he could get a good look at it. He then retracted his hand and both it and the Mirage disappeared from sight behind his chair.

The brunette was becoming a little irritated at his attitude this morning and her body language, with her hands on her hips and the obvious displeasure on her otherwise lovely face, screamed to anyone, "_Whoa betide the unfortunate creature that should tangle with the predator in its element."_ She had stuck her neck out on the line for the Mirage and with Draken's holier-than-thou attitude of the moment, the twenty-something woman wanted some answers.

"Well, I'm _glad_ that you have been having fun with your latest toy, but how exactly is it going to help us get Kim Possible? Or do you not have the faintest idea what it does?" she inquired that a disgusted laugh.

"You want to know what it does, Shego? Fine, I'll show you," her employer spat back with quite a bit of backbone behind his latest retort. It was then that the villainess heard a soft click and then a steadily growing humming sound coming from Draken's location, much like the one she had heard when she had first picked up the Mirage back at the military lab. Then she though she saw some sort of optical distortion hover around her boss' chair, but it was only for a second and she brushed it off as a trick that the low lighting was playing on her tired eyes. But when the chair started to spin in her direction and she got her first look at who was really sitting in it, there was no denying that a trick really had been played on her.

For it wasn't Draken that was in the chair to great her, but it was someone that she was very familiar with. From her horrible fashion sense (_"Really, who wears olive cargos anyway?" _she thought) to her fiery red hair, the evil beauty easily recognized the only person in the world who was her fighting equal. But the true dead giveaway was the always smug expression that the teen held, an expression reserved just for her. And it screamed, _"That's right, Shego. I'm better than you, and I don't just think it. I know it. I'm Kim Possible and I can do anything! Like kicking your butt." _It was the one thing in the world, the only thing in the world, that pissed her off more than Draken.

"Alright, Kimmie, I don't know how you got in here or what you've done with Draken, but I beat you once already tonight. Ready for a rematch, princess?" the villainess taunted as she slipped into a fighting stance.

Usually such a challenge from Shego would have elicited some kind of clichŽd, heroic response from the younger girl but instead the brunette was treated to a rather malevolent, almost crazed grin from her arch-foe. The heroine was leaning back in the leather chair, her legs crossed and her arms resting comfortably on the armrests. It was almost as if the redhead thought that Shego was no threat to her and so she would continue to lounge in her chair in an affront to everything the villainess had to offer in the way of martial arts.

This, of course, angered the vixen even more and as a low growl escaped from her, she lit her plasma charged hands, ready to finish what she had started in the secret room of the lab earlier that night. With a sharp cry, she launched herself at her opponent, all ready crossing the distance between them faster than even the greatest of sprinters could hope for. But she only got about half way when something totally unexpected happened. Kim laughed at her. And it wasn't a mirthful laugh or a girlish laugh or an amused laugh. It was an arrogant, hateful, almost insane laugh that escaped from her teen foe.

Shego came to a sudden halt about halfway to Kim as the chortle pierced through her rage-fogged mind and allowed a moment of doubt to enter. Had her near death experience earlier that night finally pushed the girl over the edge and into the abyss of insanity? The brunette would never have thought that the heroine would succumb to such a fate, but after hearing that, that..._noise_ coming from the little girl, it made her pause. A sane Kim Possible was difficult enough to defeat; how hard would it be to take on one that was no longer playing with a full deck?

At the same time that Shego was wondering about Kim's mental health, the redhead began to slowly stretch her arms and legs, as if she had been relaxing all day and was trying to get the kinks out. She uncrossed her legs and leisurely used her arms to push herself up and out of the chair. The wicked grin had not left her face the entire time as she now lazily walked around to the back of the chair and, placing her arms across the top of the leather back, leaned into it as if she hadn't a care in the world.

"Well, well, Shego. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were actually scared of me. Say it isn't so! Could the great green and black terror actually has a yellow streak going down her back? Why don't you turn around so we can see?" Kim taunted, pushing the villainess further towards the point of absolute fury.

Her teasing had the desired effect. Despite the draining experience in her jet earlier that night, the brunette called forth an almost impossible amount of green fire to her hands and, if one was listening closely enough, you could hear the gnashing of her teeth and the constant growl of her rage. The evil woman wanted nothing more at that moment than to wipe that smug expression from her opponent's face, but she decided that it would be better if she had a little fun with the girl first.

"What's the matter, Kimmie? Too tired from our fight earlier? Need the chair to help stand up? I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself now, given your fragile condition."

The redhead gave off a quick, sharp laugh. "Please. Face it, Shego, an old woman like yourself couldn't even hit my sidekick let alone a martial arts expert like myself. Time to pack it in, _grandma_," Kim sneered at her foe. "But, if you really want to fight, okay, its your funeral," she concluded as she pushed the chair out of the way and slipped into her own fighting stance.

Nearly blinded by rage, the raven hair vixen was just about to start her charge at the soon-to-be-late Kim Possible when something struck her as amiss. There was no doubt that the overall impression of the girl in front of her told the villainess that it was Kim Possible but there were subtle differences in the way she looked now as compared to earlier that night. Her hair was a darker shade of red, more like the color of a rose than the orangeish hue it normally held. That could have simply been a trick of the lighting, but there were other things as well. Her cargos were missing the pockets and the stance that she had adopted was the sloppiest she had ever seen the heroine use. And was it possible that she was a few inches taller?

Kim took the opening presented by Shego's moment of hesitation. She dropped her hands and placed them on her hips, staring intently at the other woman with a look of pure contempt. It was then that it dawned on her what it was that her foe was looking at.

"Just because I may look a little different, Shego, doesn't mean I can't still knock you into next Tuesday. Bring it on."

That did it. Whatever doubts about the identity of the person standing in front of her vanished in a renewed wave of pure hate that overtook her psyche and she charged the redhead with all the grace of a raging rhino. What she lacked in grace, however, she more than made up for in power as every last ounce of plasma in her body came rushing to her hands. It took her exactly two seconds to finish the distance between the two of them and she brought back her right fist to give Kimmie some free plastic surgery.

In her haste, the villainess failed to notice the heroine reach down with her left hand and grasp at thin air, almost as if she was holding onto something. She fumbled with the imaginary object for a moment and then, finding what she was looking for, pressed the button on the side of the device. Instantly, the image of Kim Possible vanished and was replaced with Dr. Draken, dressed in his standard blue lab coat with the look of a man who had just swindled someone out of their life savings. The only difference was that he had a small black box, no larger than a pack of matches, attached to a strip of leather that was currently around his neck.

The transformation from Kim to Draken could not have happened sooner. Just as Shego was about to unleash a powerful right cross on the redhead, she found herself face to face with her employer. The shock was enough to not only stop her attack, but actually cause the villainess to stumble backwards, tripping over her own feet and spilling to the ground in front of the blue skinned scientist. Dumbfounded, all she could do was gawk at the strange sight in front of her.

Draken, however, was having the time of his life. It wasn't often, or ever, that he was able to put one over on his right hand woman, and he was savoring every moment of it. He took a moment to revel in the look of naked confusion and surprise on the brunette's face, drinking it in like ambrosia. The madman knew that she was going to make him pay of the trick he had pulled, but that lay in the future; right now, there was fun to be had, and he gave off another amused chuckle when Shego recoiled slightly as he outstretched his hand to help her up.

"What's the matter, Shego? Not happy to see me? I can go back to being Kim Possible if you'd like..." he teased in Kim's voice. His smile faded a little as he realized that, while his appearance might have returned to normal, his voice had not. After helping a still stunned Shego to her feet, he reached around and unbuckled the strap that was around his neck and pressed a button, turning the device off.

"Ah, now that's better," he declared in his own, raspy voice as he began to rub the front of his neck around his larynx. "The voice modulator really puts a strain on the Adam's apple."

Unfortunately, his brunette had yet to wrap her mind around what had just transpired. "How....What....Huh?" was all she manages to stammer out.

When he noticed that his 'sidekick' was suffering from a serious case of bewilderment, he decided to take pity on her and let her in on the secret. His face changed to show as much sympathy as he was capable of and he turned towards the console behind him, flicking a toggle switch on it which illuminated the large round table in the middle of the room. Both villain and villainess turned towards the new source of light, and when the brunette turned to question Draken, he merely motioned towards the nearest two chairs that circled the now lit table.

Taking the hint, the brunette walked over to where her boss had indicated, closely followed by him. As she sat down, Draken walked up next to her and, reaching down to remove something that was attached to the side of his lab coat, placed it on the table in front of Shego. Then he took his seat, tapped the small metallic object while informing the dark haired beauty, "Shego, you have just been a witness to the first successful test of the latest in espionage, the Mirage."

"The idea started to come together about four weeks ago. Do you remember the day I invented the voice modulator? Now that was a great day. I finally found a way to duplicate Kim Possible's voice and I was going to use it to destroy her and take over the world. When I informed you of my great discovery, do you remember what you said to me Shego? You said, 'What good is sounding like Kimmie? Once someone takes a look at you, they're going to see that you're not her. Maybe you can make some crank calls to her friends.' It hurt, once again you deflated my great plan, but then you said some off-handed remark in between your laughter. Something like its too bad you couldn't look like Kim Possible as well."

"That got me thinking. If I could look like her and talk like her, then I could successfully wreck her life and eliminate her, thus leaving nothing in between me and world domination. So, I began working on a way to change my appearance and look like the sassy teenager. Unfortunately, nothing I tried worked. Genetic manipulation, a mental projection into my victim's minds, holographics, everything was either unusable or would take years to create."

"So, I began looking for someone who had already invented what I needed and then it was a simple matter of stealing it. It took some time, but eventually I hacked my way into a secure Pentagon server, one that housed the records of all military research projects. And that's when I came across references to holographics and Mirage. After a few more days of digging, I was able to get to the complete file on the project, what it is, what it does, who built it. As luck would have it, it was conveniently located just a short plane ride from our latest base. And the Mirage seems to be working perfectly, based on your reaction."

His partner in crime took it all in and was, quite frankly, amazed at what she had just heard. Not only had Draken come up with a plan that might actually work, but he had actually taken one of her suggestions. Suddenly, his latest plan was much more interesting to her and she wanted to know more. But, old habits die hard and she couldn't pass up the opportunity to show up her employer, even if he was on quite a roll that night.

"Umm, Dr. D, I hate to burst your bubble, but your little Kimmie hologram isn't exactly perfect. If you hadn't....upset me so much, I would have pointed out the flaws in your appearance."

"Ah, you are correct, Shego, which is why we have enlisted the services of the inventor to help work out the bugs in the system. He might not be very cooperative when he wakes up, so I will need you to convince him that it is in his best interest to give it his best shot."

"Excellent. I can't wait to hear him explain to me why he lied to me back in his lab about not knowing anything about the Mirage. Now, if you will excuse me, I'm going back to bed."

With that, the brunette began to get up from her spot at the table when Draken reached out and grabbed her wrist to stop her from going just yet. It was nothing more than a reflexive action on his part, but instantly he knew that he had crossed a serious line. They both looked right his hand and then looked at each other, one with anger and the other with fear. A second later, the blue skinned man withdrew his hand as if it had been burned and looked at Shego with an apologetic smile.

"Just what, exactly, did you think you were doing?!" she demanded to know, her voice low and dangerous.

"Hehe, sorry, Shego, but I just wanted you to stay for a moment longer as there is something else I need you to do for the plan to work."

The evil vixen narrowed her eyes at him, trying to decide whether or not he was telling the truth. Deciding that he was more an idiot than a perv, she sat back down at the table.

"I'm listening."

Her boss gave her his best smile before reaching into a pocket on the inside of his lab coat and pulling out a piece of paper. He glanced at it for a second then handed it over to the brunette.

"I need you to acquire a few things for me. It's all on there, along with the location of where to get all of the items."

She took the list and looked it over. It was a short list, and a rather eclectic one at that. But what was interesting wasn't what was on the list but rather the locations that he had placed next to each item. She could easily think of a dozen different places where she could get the goods for her employer that would be ten times easier than the ones he had suggested and she pointed this out to him.

"No, my dear Shego, it is equally as important where you get those items from as the items themselves are. There are literally hundreds of different ways to enact phase B of this plan but the only way phase C will work is if we use stuff from those locations. I can tell you're confused. Get the items, go have some fun with our good friend Dr. Fedor, and I'll explain the whole thing to you. Including your role in the entire affair."

The brunette could not have been more confused if she tried. Ever since she left her bedroom that morning, it had been one twist after another, from the almost empty control room to Draken turning into Kim Possible to the mystifying list that she now had tucked into one of the pockets of her jumpsuit. She decided she needed some time alone to process everything that she had been told and to rest up for the coming missions that were in her near future. This time when she stood up, the mad genius didn't stop and she had made it all the way to the door when she remembered something and turned to face her boss, who had been heading over to retrieve his chair from across the room.

"Oh, one last thing, Dr. D," she asked in a disturbingly sweet voice. "What's this about me being old enough to be a _grandmother_?!"


End file.
